Andrew Aguila’s 36-yard field goal with 23 seconds remaining in a wild finish gave Compton College a 23-21 football victory over Santa Monica College Saturday, November 11 in Compton.
The game had five turnovers and three blocked kicks and the teams combined for only 177 yards of offense.
With 43 seconds left and Santa Monica leading by a point, Todd Barthelemy returned a blocked 35-yard field goal by Santa Monica’s Sean Whyte 66 yards to the Corsair 19-yard line. The blocked kick was left untouched and slowly moving until Barthelemy picked it up and took off for the end zone. Most of the fans and the clock operator thought the play was dead as no time was run off the clock on the return.
After a clock correction left 19 seconds remaining, Aguila made the field goal to give the Tartars the lead, and a desperation pass by Santa Monica quarterback Colin Clancy fell incomplete, which gave Compton the improbable comeback win.
Santa Monica head coach Robert Taylor was not happy with his team performance on the blocked field goal or the officials.
“There was a lot of chaos on that play. There was the clock, but we should have gotten on the football, we should have gotten on the kick,” said a frustrated Taylor.
Compton (6-4, 5-2 Western State Conference) finished their season winning their last five games to tie Glendale for second place in the WSC – South Division.
The loss ended Santa Monica’s two-game winning streak. SMC finished 3-7 (3-4 in the conference), and gives the Corsairs their lowest two-year win total since the 1950-51 season (four).
