September 28, 2004

Sports

Mesa falls short against No.1 Dixie College

Jennifer Wagner
Mesa Legend

Mesa Community College held their own against the #1 ranked Dixie College Saturday, September 18.
Unfortunately MCC fell short to Dixie 38-28.
MCC proved themselves to be a formidable opponent by out rushing the #1 ranked junior college team in the nation, 293 yards to 208. Austen Collins had three touchdowns and rushed for 220 yards.
MCC took an early lead but seemed to lose momentum after a linebacker (Fakatoumafi) from Dixie intercepted a pass from Jorge Preciado and ran 70 yards for a touchdown.
Assistant Coach Rodger Schenks didn’t think the team lost momentum.
“It’s a young team. There have been mental mistakes, but I don’t think the momentum shifted.”
Dixie continued their rampage by taking the lead 21-7, but shortly after, MCC was able to cover 74 yards in 8 plays and cut the lead down to 21-14.
In the third quarter, MCC was still hanging around when Collins ran 24 yards for a touchdown.
Dixie sealed the deal by making a 36-yard field goal to seal the game.
Mental mistakes were what killed MCC in the end.
“We needed to improve on our mental mistakes. If we made a lot less, we would have down a lot better, “ said Collins.
In the past two games, Collins has a total of 375 rushing yards. Collins rushed 155 yards in the 20-7 victory against Air Force Academy.
“Collins and White both did a good job. They both did what they were asked to and it’s always good to have a nice 1-2 punch,” Coach Schenks said of the performances by Collins and White, although White was banged up and couldn’t go the second half of the Dixie game.