Long Beach hands Olympians first loss

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: September 26, 2022

2022 COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Long Beach 28, San Diego Mesa 14

KEARNY MESA — A dominant defense by Long Beach City College carried shutout deep into the fourth quarter, handing previously unbeaten San Diego Mesa a lop-sided loss in a 28-14 decision Saturday (Sept. 24) at Merrill Douglas Stadium.

Both ballclubs are now 3-1 overall.

The first half almost went scoreless until the Vikings’ Thaddeus Dixon raced 29 yards with an interception to score with 1:57 left before intermission.

Then in the second half, Beach quarterback Will Madonna fired a trio of TD passes to mount a 28-0 advantage.

Mesa carded a pair of cosmetic scores against the second-string in the final minutes.

Richard Colmenero tossed a 30-yard TD pass to William Robinso with 6:57 remaining. Mesa defender Zachariah Ruiz followed by recovering a fumble, setting up a 5-yard TD run by Josh Butler with 4:14 left.

Colemenero got the start in place of Gunnar Gray, who was sidelined with an wrist injury and wasn’t suited for the contest.

Historical note

If not for the Dixon ‘Pick 6,’ Mesa could’ve finished with its first scoreless first-half since 1969, when they eventually nipped San Diego City College, 2-0.

City’s Knights had the ball at the Mesa-1 on the last play of the game. They went for the TD but fell short.

A year later, Mesa led SDCC, 3-2, when City again had the ball at the Mesa goal line with time for only one more play. This time, Knights head coach Harry West elected to boot the short field goal, but the ball was pulled wide to the left.

SUMMARY
VIKINGS 28, OLYMPIANS 14
Long Beach (3-1).. 0 7 14 7 - 28
SD Mesa (3-1)....... 0 0 0 14 - 14

LB – Thaddeus Dixon 29 interception return (Mario De la Tor kick), 1:57 left
LB – Trennel Ridgely 16 pass from Will Madonna (Mario De la Tor kick)
LB – – Ryan Bowers 14 pass from Will Madonna (Mario De la Tor kick)
LB – Ashun (Remil) B 2 pass from Will Madonna (Mario De la Tor kick)
M – William Robinso 30 pass from Richard Colmene (Mauricio Escude kick)
M – Josh Butler 5 run. (Mauricio Escude kick)