Mt. San Antonio Rallies to Edge San Francisco, 38-35

FULLERTON —  Mike Moschetti wasn’t on the field when his Mt. San Antonio teammates began wildly celebrating the national championship they won with a 38-35 victory over San Francisco in the Blue Diamond community college state championship game Saturday in front of 3,351 at Cal State Fullerton.

Instead, Moschetti sat on the bench talking with trainers, trying to recover enough to walk 20 yards to get into the team picture.

Moschetti had given his all, including taking a legal but painful hit while getting a first down that allowed the Mounties to run out the clock and finish the season 12-0.

Mt. San Antonio entered the game as the top-ranked team in the nation in the J.C. Grid-Wire rankings and will stay there. San Francisco (11-1) was second.

San Francisco seemed well on its way to moving to the top spot in the rankings after opening up a 28-17 lead with about three minutes left in the third quarter.

But Mt. San Antonio stormed back, thanks to three San Francisco turnovers. The first two were interceptions and the third was a fumble that defensive back Nakia Ware returned 16 yards for a touchdown and a 38-28 lead for Mt. San Antonio with 4:08 left.

San Francisco scored on a 25-yard scoring pass from quarterback Terrance Bryant to wide receiver Jerry Roquemore with 2:35 remaining.

But Mt. San Antonio ran out the clock, thanks to Moschetti. The Mounties faced third and five at their 30 with two minutes left. Moschetti faked a handoff right and turned left on a naked bootleg that gained nine yards but forced him out of the game.

“Coach [Bill] Fisk is always telling me to get out of bounds,” Moschetti said, “but I put my head down and got smoked. . . . I told the guys when we were down 11 not to even look at the scoreboard because so much could happen.”

Because San Francisco was out of timeouts, the Mounties ran three more plays and the game was over.

“We found a way to do it,” said Fisk. “Mike Moschetti kept telling me all week not to worry about it, that we would get it done. He’s just such a great competitor.”

Moschetti passed for 239 yards and three touchdowns.

The game turned when Mt. San Antonio’s Antonio Pierce intercepted a pass and returned it 10 yards to his 25. Moschetti then started the comeback with a 65-yard touchdown pass to Larry Shyne with 9:42 left.