AWC's Ford comes up short in another bowl game

It was one of those trick plays that no one saw coming.

Damien Williams threw a lateral pass to Josh Ford who threw the ball 22-yards down field to Arizona Western quarterback Cameron Coffman.

The score helped the Matadors spark a comeback, trailing 41-20 to Eastern Mississippi Community College (12-0) with just under 11 minutes left in the third quarter.

Unfortunately for AWC, they fell short of their national championship dreams and lost 55-47 to the Lions in Saturday's El Toro Bowl Presented by Time Warner Cable at Veteran's Memorial Stadium.

“I definitely think that (the trick play) was a game changer,” Ford said. “Really, every time we got on the board, every time the offense put up a touchdown I really think it was game changer for us.... So, it was a hell of a challenge for us to put up that many points.”

This is the second straight year in a row that Ford has been on the losing end of a bowl game. He was with the Matadors when they lost 31-27 to Blinn College in the Heart of Texas Bowl in Copperas Cove.

“It does sting to come up short every time,” Ford said. “But it's just a learning experience, really. It just makes you more hungry to get it next time.”

The Matadors finished their season with an 11-1 record.

Ford credits the loss to a poor first half performance by AWC — as well as a slew of costly Matador penalties.

“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot pretty much the whole first half,” Ford said. “That put us in a big hole. We gave up three touchdowns, we had almost 15 penalties for about 200 yards in the first half alone. There were too many turnovers, not enough points on the board for the offense and too many points on the board for the defense.”

Ford finished the game with 90 receiving yards, 22 passing yards and two touchdowns.

The official count of Matadors penalties was 16 in the game for 150 yards. The Lions are listed as having seven penalties of their own for 93 yards, on which AWC should've taken advantage of, Ford said.

“We just didn't capitalize tonight,” Ford said. “We didn't play our game in the first half, you saw in the second half we came out and played Arizona Western Football and you seen what happened. If we'd have done that the whole game I believe this would've been a whole different turnout.”

Despite the outcome, EMCC coach Buddy Stephens still said that Ford and the Matadors deserve recognition for fighting back the way they did.

“Give their kids and they're coaches a tremendous amount of credit,” Stephen said. “They came back and they hung tough and they played very well. Those guys — they didn't quit and that's a credit to that coaching staff, too. So, they did a good job and we're very fortunate to come out with a win.”

This was the last game for Ford as a Matador. AWC coach Tom Minnick said the sophomore will be missed.

“We have a lot of kids with great character, and there's a handful of them we're going to miss. He's one of them,” Minnick said. “He's a great kid and does everything right. I'm proud of him. He did a great job for us.”

Erin Redmond can be reached at eredmond@yumasun.com or 539-6880.