The Glendale College Vaqueros opened up their home schedule Saturday afternoon against the Wolverines of Bernardino Valley College. The Vaqueros were trying to bounce back after a crushing defeat to Pasadena City College the week before.
From the opening drive the Vaqueros defense started right where it left off against PCC, allowing the Wolverines to run the football at will. Wolverine sophomore Dante Jackson, who ran for more than 100 yards, marched the ball deep into Vaquero territory, which culminated with a 10-yard pass to put the Wolverines up 7-0.
Later in the first quarter, the GCC special teams unit put the Vaqueros on the board by blocking their second punt of the season, which made the score 7-7 with 4:59 remaining in the quarter.
In the second quarter, the Vaqueros tried to awaken their dormant offense, freshman Willie Latham ran the ball for a 42-yard touchdown run. Latham turned out to be the only strong offensive player for the Vaqueros, running for 84 yards on 12 plays.
The Vaqueros also fumbled the ball twice and had a punt blocked, which resulted in 14 points on turnovers.
They once again showed an undisciplined style of football by allowing 273 total yards, being penalized 9 times for 63 yards, and having standoff confrontations with their own teammates.
The Vaqueros lost 45-14, which brings their record to 0-2, after opening up the season with a 55-14 loss to top ranked PCC.
“We are not a disciplined football team,” said Head Coach John Cicuto. When asked about the team’s lack of focus on the field coach said “this game was lost at 8:30 this morning when I called roll. We had 22 players show up over a half hour late for roll call, eight of which were starters.”
“For a few weeks now we’ve had players not want to commit because they have other priorities in life, but we are at that point of the season that they must decide if football is the important part of life,” Cicuto continued. “Next week we open our WSC schedule against a very tough Citrus College team, and we can’t think about bowl games or conference championships, we just have to do things day by day and weed out things that are not helping us to play at a the level that I know we can play.”
Sophomore transfer from PCC J.D. Ziska said, “We just have to go back to step one, and realize where our mistakes are and fix them.” Ziska, quarterback, threw for 59 yards on eight completions. Cicuto has added a starter to the offensive line, which should give Ziska more time to throw the ball to a very fast and talented receiving core.
Cicuto’s main goal in strengthening the team this season is cooperation. He has warned players that individuality will not be tolerated on the field.
The Vaqueros open up the 2002 WSC schedule against 0-2 Citrus College Saturday at 1 p.m. at Glendale High School’s Moyse Field.