OCC, Palomar meet during trying times

Bryce Alderton

The game will go on.

Players on the Palomar College football team -- faced to either

forfeit or compete as planned -- unanimously decided Wednesday to

continue with the schedule: travel to face host Orange Coast in a

Mission Conference American Division game at 6 p.m. today. Fires that

have ravaged San Diego County this week have forced schools such as

Palomar to close, while the football team didn’t practice Monday,

Tuesday or Wednesday.

“The kids are resilient,” Palomar Coach Joe Early said. “One

player lost his home while another had his partly burned down. There

is quite a bit of adversity going on, but the kids wanted to play. We

practiced an hour and half both [Thursday] and [Friday].

“If I had my say, I would have liked to play Monday, but that was

not an option. But I am proud of the decision my players made.”

OCC Coach Mike Taylor sympathized with Palomar, but if the game

was moved, it would make for a shorter week of preparation for Coast

(4-3, 1-1), which hosts Cerritos Friday.

“It wouldn’t have been fair to our kids to come off a game Monday

and have another one Friday,” Taylor said. “This is not the NFL where

teams come back on a short week after Monday Night Football.

“I empathize with [Palomar]. All of us have been affected since

the fires started last weekend. This whole week has been stressful.

People are losing homes, so it puts football into perspective.”

Taylor jokingly said that Palomar (5-2, 1-1) didn’t need as much

practice time to prepare for today’s game as Coast did.

“They are one of the best teams in Southern California,” Taylor

said.

Palomar came into the season ranked No. 4 in the country and its

two losses have come in OT to Mt. San Antonio and Canyons, two teams

ranked in the top-five nationally.

Coast and Palomar are both one game behind Mt. SAC (7-0, 2-0) in

the American Division.

Orange Coast comes off a 43-14 defeat to Mt. SAC, where special

teams proved to be the Pirates’ downfall. Two bad punt snaps led to

12 Mt. SAC points. Mt. SAC also capitalized with a touchdown after an

interception.

“You can’t take the whole quarter to make up the field position,”

Taylor said. Starting tight end Jon Garcia will snap if OCC gets into

a punting situation tonight, a change from last week.

Pirates’ practices were toned down earlier in the week in response

to the poor air quality from other Southern California fires.

“We cut down a bit on conditioning and were sensitive because some

of our kids have asthma,” Taylor said.

Palomar leads the series, 10-9. The Comets won, 43-6, last season

when Coast committed five turnovers.

Taylor said there would be a moment of silence and prayer before

today’s game to honor the fire victims.