October 25,2005
9/10 9/17 9/24 10/1 10/8 10/15 10/22 10/29 11/5 11/12
SPORTSTraveling woes hit gridders; team drops 2 games straight
After winning three of their first four games, the MCC football team has dropped two games in a row, to fall to a record of three wins and three losses. The second loss of the season came on Oct. 8, at the hands of Snow College, the seventh ranked team in the country, 41 to 7.
The team traveled by bus to Ephraim, Utah, but were delayed for nine hours when the bus blew a tire and brake line near Wikieup, AZ. Once the Thunderbirds made it to Snow College, things did not get any better as they fell behind 24 to 0 in the first quarter. “The whole game was just poor...everything was poor,” Dan Dunn, the MCC head coach, said.
Mesa began the game by fumbling the opening kickoff, which was recovered by Snow’s Aric Hutchinson in the end zone for a touchdown.
Later in the first quarter Mesa fumbled the ball again, which led to three more points courtesy of a 47-yard field goal by Adrian Vera.
Snow’s Derrick Brown added to the Thunderbirds woes as he intercepted a Colton Malone pass and returned it 69 yards for another Badgers’ touchdown.
Things turned from bad to worse with one minute left in the first quarter, when MCC fumbled the ball for a third time and Tico Pringle returned it 25 yards for another Snow score.
In all, Mesa turned the ball over 10 times, fumbling six times and throwing four interceptions.
Mesa wideout Jeremy Edwards caught the lone score for the Thunderbirds with a nine-yard touchdown reception.
Putting the road trip debacle behind them, the team looked for redemption the following week against the Gauchos of Glendale Community College.
It was a shoot out as Mesa and Glendale lit up the scoreboard for a total of 77 points. Yet, it was the Thunderbirds who put up the least amount of points, losing 37-40.
Mesa trailed for most of the game and was down as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter.
However, quarterback Colton Malone and wide receiver Marko Mitchell led the comeback charge by hooking up twice in the second half for a pair of touchdowns.
A 39-yard field goal by freshman place-kicker Andrew Stricklan completed the comeback, giving Mesa a lead in the fourth quarter.
The Gauchos, however, took the lead for good in their homecoming game on a 26-yard touchdown pass.
Mesa’s hopes of another comeback against the undefeated Gauchos were crushed when Colton Malone’s 17-yard pass was picked off in the endzone with 19 seconds to go.
“We played our best football game as a team,” Dunn said.
“We did the things that were necessary to be competitive and win the game. Glendale had an outstanding football team.”
Still, Dunn mentioned several outstanding performances by Mesa players such as safety Todd Runyen making 16 tackles and Colton Malone having his best game to date by throwing for 404 yards and five touchdowns.
The Thunderbirds will finish out their season with games against Eastern Arizona Community College on Oct. 29 and rival Scottsdale Community College on Nov. 12, which is a day game with a 2 p.m. start.
Mesa has already been guaranteed a win against Pima Community College as their athletic director Robert Riza announced the football team will have to forfeit the remainder of the 2005 football season due to a lack of active players.