Strong defensive plays in the second half helped lead San Diego Mesa College’s football team to a victory of 21-10 against San Bernardino Valley College on Oct. 29.
Mesa was down by a field goal and it seemed as though San Bernardino, last year’s conference champions, wasn’t going to let Mesa get any more points. Then, once the second half of the game began, Mesa came out ready to win.
Defensive back Ray Herring helped turn the game around. Herring made an interception at the 18 yard line and then ran 82 yards to the end zone to secure Mesa’s lead against San Bernardino.
“We got it together, talked to each other and made plays,” said Herring. “All the turnovers and game changing plays gets everyone hyped up.”
As of Oct. 31 Herring was named Defensive Player of the week by the Southern California Football Association. He had two interceptions, three tackles and a pass broken up in this game.
Mesa was able to control San Bernardino’s running game, only allowing them to get one touchdown.
Free safety D’Andre Sampson had an interception earlier in the game, helping to prevent San Bernardino from scoring.
“We came together as a team and really stuck in there for each other,” said Sampson.
As defending conference champions, San Bernardino was expected to be a tough opponent.
“We wanted to control the game by running the ball and be able to stop their running game which is good,” said Mesa Coach Henry Browne.
Even though they didn’t start the game off well they were able to come back with critical and crucial plays dring the second half.
“This has been something that has been building for a few games now, where we’ve really played well in stretches. In games like this one the next drive is the most important and as the game goes on each one becomes more purposeful,” said Browne.
Mesa studied San Bernardino and knew going into the game that they were a tough opponent, but San Bernardino changed their strategy for this game.
“They weren’t doing what we studied so we had to regain ourselves,” said Sampson, “once we did that they couldn’t do anything to us.”
As of this last game Mesa and San Bernardino have the same game record, 2-5 all around and 1-2 conference.