Since opening the season Sept. 5 with a 53-20 win over Portland State, San Diego State football has lived 1,000 lives: a three-game losing streak, a teamwide mumps outbreak and a quarterback on the hot seat.
The Aztecs bounced back from a 66-14 loss at Oregon State with a 26-23 victory over Fresno State Saturday, to retain the Old Oil Can trophy, fueled by a pair of North County products: Cathedral Catholic alumni Lucky Sutton and Tano Letuli.
Sutton, San Diego State’s starting running back, returned from an injury that had sidelined him for three of the previous four games and rushed for 119 yards on 18 carries. His career-long 67-yard run to open the fourth quarter helped set up a touchdown and marked his seventh 100-yard game.
Letuli, a linebacker, finished with a team-high 11 tackles and a sack.
Cooper DeLiva drilled a career-long 53-yard field goal with 57 seconds remaining to seal the victory. Head coach Sean Lewis said the rivalry win came at a needed moment for the Aztecs, 3-4, after a difficult stretch.
“The rivalry makes things different. It was exactly what we needed, exactly the right time to be able to refocus from a really bad moment. The light shines when it’s darkest. We’ve been in a storm this whole season, and we’re going to continue to persevere,” Lewis said.
“We played with a lot of heart,” Sutton said. “We felt like this game meant a lot to us and for this season. We brought it every single day of practice to turn this thing around.”
Breed completes nearly 900-mile journey along coast
Catherine Breed completed a nearly 900-mile swim along California’s coastline Sunday, Oct. 18, finishing a journey that began July 1 near the Oregon border and took her down the coast through North County.
Breed, 33, swam the route in stages over nearly four months, accompanied by a support boat and crew. Her journey took her past the Golden Gate Bridge, across Monterey Bay and around Point Conception before continuing down the Southern California coast. She was off La Jolla Friday as she approached the finish. The swim is believed to be the first staged swim of California’s entire coastline, pending review of the supporting records.
“For months, I measured my world in the next few miles,” Breed said. “Every message from someone following along, every person who came out to cheer, helped me get back in the water.”
Breed, a former medical technology sales professional, founded the nonprofit Sea Dreamers to promote ocean conservation. During the swim, she encountered marine wildlife and floating plastic debris.
“I have spent my life loving this coast. Swimming it gave me hundreds of new reasons to protect it,” Breed said.
Oceanside Shock notch first franchise win
The Oceanside Shock earned their first victory in franchise history Oct. 11, when Vladimir Fadeev scored 27 seconds into overtime for a 5-4 win over the Stockton Thunder at Frontwave Arena. The Shock, members of the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL), finished their inaugural weekend 1-2 after playing three games in three nights.
Oceanside opened the season with consecutive losses to the Fresno Falcons before rallying past Stockton. Fadeev recorded a hat trick, scoring twice in the third period to erase Stockton’s leads and force overtime. The Shock then lost two more games to Stockton, including a 6-3 home defeat on Oct. 18, to fall to 1-4 through five games.
The roster features two North County forwards: Sam Bailey, from Escondido, and James Spaargaren, from Carlsbad. Bailey scored in the Oct. 18 loss to Stockton, while Spaargaren assisted on Nick Wagner’s goal for the first goal in franchise history.
Oceanside hosts the Minnesota Northern Lights at Frontwave Arena on Oct. 23 and 25.
