In what has been another tough season for the Vaqueros, a ray of light hit Saturday night in East Los Angeles.

The ray of light came in with 5:30 left in the game, when WSC Defensive player of the week Ryan Workman, picked up an East L.A. College fumble in the end zone, which gave the Vaqueros the winning touchdown. Workman had 14 tackles to go along with his touchdown.

The Vaquero defense was not done yet. The East L.A. College Huskies gave one last charge to the Vaqueros, but GCC held strong. The Huskies were stopped one yard short of getting into the end zone. The 27-21 victory gave GCC its first victory of the season (1-4, 1-2 in division).

At first it looked like it would be another long night for Head Coach John Cicuto and his coaching staff. GCC turned the ball over on its first two possessions. The second turnover was a fumble that was picked by the Huskies Adrian Magallon

But, Saturday was the night that something would go right for the Vaqueros. On the ensuing kickoff, GCC’s Jayson Lipscomb, returned the ball for an 85-yard touchdown return. This is the second return of the season for Lipscomb; he returned a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown the week before against West L.A.

The offensive troubles continued for sophomore Adam Freeman. Freeman threw an interception that gave the Huskies a 14-7 lead before the seats in the stadium were given a chance to get warm. By the end of the half there seemed to be no hope for the Vaqueros who were down 21-7 going in to the locker room at halftime.

The Vaqueros did not quit. They scored 20 unanswered points in the second half. The offense would have one more big play of the night when Freeman threw a 24-yard touchdown pass for a score to Getro Elize for the final offensive touchdown of the night. The pass made the score 21-13 halfway through the third quarter. Justin Smith helped the cause by running the ball 18 times for 106 yards. These impressive stats by Smith also earned him WSC running back of the week.

It was a defensive night. East L.A quarterback, John Tuttle, threw a pass right into the hands of Vaquero Fred Bell who returned the ball for a touchdown. The touchdown got GCC within two points of ELAC.

The defense put the game away when Workman picked up the lose ball in the end zone.

“We had to improve defensively against the pass, and our secondary did that,” Cicuto said.

The Vaqueros have the weekend off, but return next week to host the Ventura College Pirates at Moyse Field Oct. 18 at 1 p.m.