SBCC came up empty on two shots at a winning touchdown in the final minute and suffered a 25-20 football defeat at College of the Desert on Saturday night.
With a first and goal at the 10 with 1:04 remaining, Manny Nwosu ran for two yards. Joshua Evans was sacked back to the 17, leaving the Vaqueros with a third and goal. Evans threw incomplete for Blain in the corner of the end zone. On fourth down from the 22 after a false start pentalty, Evans threw too high for Lambert in the end zone.
Tony Williams rushed for 186 yards and a touchdown to lead College of the Desert (3-2) to its third straight win.
Desert built a 16-0 halftime lead against a Vaquero team that came in as the No. 7 scoring offense in the state with a 40.3 average.
The Vaqueros scored two TDs in the third quarter and pulled within two points, 22-20, on a 4-yard TD run by Nwosu with 7:07 to play. They went for two points and Evans’ pass was in Donald Lambert’s hands at the 1 but Darrell Lewis knocked it loose.
Nwosu had his fourth straight game rushing for more than 100 yards. The former Dos Pueblos High star ran 20 times for 104 yards and two touchdowns.
Desert gained 294 yards on the ground on 61 tries. The Vaqueros ran for 148 yards and passed for 148 yards. The Roadrunners won the total-yard battle 330-296 but also committed 15 penalties for 195 yards.
Desert was 3-3 on red-zone scoring chances while the Vaqueros were 2-5. SBCC had scored on 76 percent of its red-zone chances in the first four games.