Oct. 24, 2009
Box Score | Photo Gallery
(San Diego, CA) - The USD Toreros (3-4; 2-3 pfl) dropped a 34-16 contest to the visiting Jacksonville Dolphins (4-3; 3-1 pfl) before 2,583 fans at Torero Stadium this afternoon. Jacksonville jumped out to a 13-0 first quarter lead and never trailed the rest of the way. The Dolphins totaled 402 yards of offense against a Torero defense that has been hit by the injury bug of late. San Diego heads to Dayton next Saturday for an afternoon Halloween contest.
"I see this as an opportunity," said head coach Ron Caragher. "We have some guys down, and this is a chance for our guys to step up and play. It really comes down to discipline and execution, and we need to do a better job of executing. I told the team, to win theses kinds of games, its real simple. All you have to do is execute. You have to be able to fully execute, whether it is offense, or defense or even special teams for that matter, and we just didn't do it and that's why we lost the game."
Jacksonville marched 60 yards on 7 plays on the game's first possession as WR Josh Philpart hauled in a 28-yard pass from QB Josh McGregor with 11:32 left in the opening period. Their second score came late in the quarter following a misplayed punt return by Al-Rilwan Adeyemi. Adeyemi's muffed catch was recovered by Eric Kornhauser on the USD 39-yard line. McGregor hit Sam Bell for a 35-yard completion and one play later Keith Dawson rushed in for a 4-yard score to make it 13-0.
In the second quarter a Mike Levine 41-yard field goal followed by a 2-yard JT Rogan touchdown run pulled the Toreros to within 13-10 with 5:44 to go. Rogan's rush culminated an impressive 7-play, 87 yard drive over 3 minutes and 31 seconds. On Jacksonville's next possession the Toreros forced a punt, but the punt hit a Torero player in the leg and the Dolphins recovered with 3:04 left in the half on USD's 32-yard line. McGregor quickly connected with Tommie Rogers for a 32-yard score to extend their lead to 20-10 at halftime.
The Toreros opened up the second half with their own quick score as Sam Scudellari found WR John McGough up the right side for a 59-yard touchdown on the first play of the half. USD's point after kick failed but USD was back in the game, down just 20-16. From there it was all Jacksonville as the Dolphins scored the game's final two touchdowns to close out the third quarter. J.J. Laster scored on a 1-yard run, and Philpart hauled in his second TD pass from McGregor for an 8-yard score.
USD starting QB Sam Scudellari, who was slowed by a foot injury he sustained early in the game, was replaced by Justin Fontenberry on the second possession of the 4th quarter. For the game Scudellari completed 8-of-22 passes for 172 yards and 1 TD. JT Rogan was the team's workhorse finishing with 85 tough yards on 20 carries. He also added 101 yards on 5 kickoff returns. Sophomore WR John McGough finished with 4 receptions for 117 yards and 1 TD. Kyle Negrete punted 5 times, averaging 47.8 yards with a long of 55 yards.
Defensively the Toreros were paced by senior captain Gabriel Derricks (8 tackles), LB Anthony McCrady (7 stops; 1.5 sacks), FS Jeff Chavez (7 tackles) and LB Loka Kanongataa (5 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 QB hurry and 1 pass breakup). Jacksonville was paced by RB Rudell Small (151 yards), QB Josh McGregor (10-24 for 162 yards, 3 TDs) and Will Perry (10 tackles).
