“I will be back. We will be back. Our next task is recruiting.”
With those words from veteran coach Robert Taylor Santa Monica College ended a dismal football season Saturday night.
There was one win and nine losses, including a Homecoming 46-31 setback against Compton College.
SMC built a 24-7 lead and was ahead at halftime, 31-27 but couldn’t do any more scoring or hold on.
“In almost every game we played a poor second half,’’ Taylor said. “We were a young team and we’ll have about 20 players coming back. Unlike Division 1, where there are strict rules about recruiting, it’s allowed pretty much all year around on our level. So we’re going to be out there, getting to work right away.”
SMC started slowly in 2004 but won its final five games. In 2003, SMC was champion of its division in the Western State Conference and advanced to a bowl game.
But this season’s team didn’t produce in the same way.
“It’s been good and now it is bad,’’ said Taylor, who has guided Corsair football teams for the last 12 years.
“I didn’t see it coming. At the start, I thought we might be pretty good. But we lost both safeties in the third game and it was hard to overcome that.
“We played well in an early season game against Fullerton, a good team, but we didn’t build on that.’’
The only win came in the eighth week over East Los Angeles.
All three of SMC’s quarterbacks were freshmen and their inexperience showed. In the second half of the season, Colin Clancy emerged and he’s the early favorite to have the job next season.
“I think he’s going to be good,’’ said Taylor.
Despite the record, Taylor expects about five players to receive Division 1 scholarships. That news should be forthcoming in February.At SMC, the scene now shifts into Corsair Pavilion for the basketball season.
