Former Grossmont College football standout named Poinsettia Bowl Offensive MVP

It was a homecoming beyond expectation for former Grossmont College football player Joey DeMartino, who scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown in the Utah State Aggies’ 21-14 victory against the 23rd-ranked Northern Illinois Huskies in last Thursday’s ninth annual San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl game at Qualcomm Stadium.

DeMartino scored on a one-yard run with 4:14 left in the fourth quarter to boost the Aggies to a 21-7 lead.

It was a homecoming beyond expectation for former Grossmont College football player Joey DeMartino, who scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown in the Utah State Aggies’ 21-14 victory against the 23rd-ranked Northern Illinois Huskies in last Thursday’s ninth annual San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl game at Qualcomm Stadium.

DeMartino scored on a one-yard run with 4:14 left in the fourth quarter to boost the Aggies to a 21-7 lead.

The score stood up as the game-winner after the Huskies responded with a matching touchdown with 1:44 remaining in the quarter to draw to within seven points on the scoreboard. Northern Illinois (12-2) then attempted an onside kick that was recovered by Utah State (9-5) to seal the victory.

An All-Mountain West Conference honorable mention selection, DeMartino rushed 23 times for 143 net yards to earn the bowl game’s Most Valuable Offensive Player award while teammate Jake Doughty, a First Team All-MWC senior linebacker, received the Most Valuable Defensive Player award after collecting eight tackles and one forced fumble.

“It’s crazy going from four wins to three bowl games and winning two of them — it’s been great to watch this team grow over the last four years,” said DeMartino, a redshirt senior running back, who led Utah State with 1,078 net rushing yards and scored 13 touchdowns in 13 games. “For the seniors to win 31 games in four years has been amazing. It’s great to be back home and lead my team to a win and, to get the MVP award, this is beyond anything I could have dreamed of.”

A member of Grossmont College’s 2009 US Bank Beach Bowl championship team, DeMartino set a Poinsettia Bowl game record for longest rushing play from scrimmage with a 58-yard run late in the first quarter and ranks second in bowl game history with 143 rushing yards.

The former Mt. Carmel Sundevil MVP set the tone for ball-carriers in this year’s Poinsettia Bowl game by rushing three times for 60 yards in the first quarter and 71 yards on five carries at halftime. His 58-yard run led to a 39-yard field goal by teammate Nick Diaz to boost the Aggies to a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter.

But DeMartino’s worth came in the fourth quarter when the former Griffin Offensive MVP and Second-Team All-National Division/Southern Conference JC award-winner helped the Aggies chew up the clock with 53 yards on 11 carries, culminating in his touchdown run.

“My coach told me at the beginning of the fourth quarter that he was going to hand the ball to me, to put the team on my back,” DeMartino said.

This was the first appearance by the Aggies in the Poinsettia Bowl, which matched teams from the Mountain West Conference (Utah State) and Mid-American Conference (Northern Illinois).

The Aggies won the MWC-Mountain Division title to earn a berth in the inaugural MWC championship game against MWC-West Division winner Fresno State on Dec. 7.

DeMartino had 18 carries for 54 yards in the MWC title game – a 24-17 loss to the 20th-ranked Bulldogs in Fresno.

Utah State head coach Matt Wells underscored the satisfying nature of the bowl game victory by his team, which lost four key offensive starters to injury over the course of the 2013 season. He called this the “winningest senior class in Utah State history.”

“To beat a team like that on a national stage is big-time for these kids and the way they did it with typical fashion blue collar and toughness and tremendous defense the whole game and found a way to run the ball at the end of the game. I’m proud of these guys and proud to be their coach,” Wells stated in a post-game press conference.

“We were so thin, just to be able to manufacture points in any way possible was our job, to score one more than them … Our kids stepped up and knocked it out of the park.”

After leading Grossmont with 952 rushing yards (seventh in the Southern California Football Association) on 143 carries (an average of 5.8 yards per carry) to go with six rushing touchdowns, DeMartino transferred to Utah State. As a sophomore in 2010, he carried the ball 29 times for 157 yards and scored one touchdown.

He red-shirted the 2011 season with the Aggies. On special teams last season, he was credited with five tackles, including three in a game against Idaho.

Injuries to teammates placed DeMartino in the spotlight this season.

“Words can’t describe that feeling at the end,” the ex-Griffin standout said. “Our seniors are going out like this is the best feeling in the world and putting our program on the map and showing that we can win in big-time environments … it means everything.”