Football: Defense Shuts Down Comets to Start Season 2-0

Huntington Beach, Calif. - The Rustler defense came to play this afternoon as they tallied eight sacks and a Xavier Streeter pick six in a dominating win at home against Palomar 22-3. 

Football: Defense Shuts Down Comets to Start Season 2-0
September 10, 2022
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Huntington Beach, Calif. - The Rustler defense came to play this afternoon as they tallied eight sacks and a Xavier Streeter pick six in a dominating win at home against Palomar 22-3. 

The defense forced a quick stop to open the game and the offense marched right down the field that ended with quarterback Malakai Martinez trotting in for a 1-yd TD rush (Justin Hintze PAT good) to take a 7-0 lead. 

In the second quarter, wide out Nick Kennewell made an ESPN top 10 worthy one handed catch that setup Justin Hintze's 37-yard field goal to extend the Ruster lead 10-0. 

Palomar's only score came as time expired in the first half as they would hit an impressive 57-yard field goal heading to the locker rooms at half and make it 10-3. 

It didn't take long into the second half for Golden West to take any momentum back from Palomar's field goal when Streeter picked off a Palomar pass and took it back to the house 50 yards (Hintze failed PAT) to build the Rustler lead to 16-3. 

Martinez would then connect with wide out Robbie Sauvao for a 13-yd touchdown strike for the final score of the game and the win 22-3. 

The defense was a wrecking ball while tallying eight sacks, a pick six, 12 tackles for loss, and holding the Palomar offense to 128 yards of total offense. Nine different Rustlers were in on the sack party with Austin Grbic leading the charge with 1.5 sacks. 

Kennewell was the only play to record over 100 yards of offense with five catches for 104 yards. 

Golden West will travel to Bakersfield next week for their first road game of the season with a 4pm kickoff.