Community College Football : Fullerton After Fifth Straight Tonight Against Golden West

First-place Fullerton College will be seeking its fifth consecutive Pac-9 Conference victory tonight when the Hornets play Golden West in a rare Friday community college football game in LeBard Stadium at 7:30.

Since Orange Coast plays Palomar in a Mission Conference game Saturday night in LeBard, Golden West, which shares the stadium with Orange Coast, had the choice of hosting Fullerton either Saturday afternoon or Friday night. Rustler Coach Ray Shackleford, who doesn’t like day games, chose the latter.

After beginning conference play with a loss to Cerritos, Fullerton (4-1 in conference and 5-2 overall), ranked 13th in the nation and third in the Southland, has beaten El Camino, Bakersfield, Taft and Pasadena City.

Saturday, in a 31-0 win over Pasadena City, the Hornets limited the Lancers to 40 yards rushing and forced four turnovers. Offensively, Fullerton was led by fullback Dean Hankins, who scored three touchdowns.

Golden West (3-2, 3-3-1) dropped out of a first-place tie with Fullerton--and probably out of the postseason bowl picture--after last week’s disappointing 24-21 defeat to Cerritos. The Rustlers led, 21-17, and had the ball at Cerritos’ 16 with a little more than a minute to play, but couldn’t get a first down on third-and-one and fourth-and-one situations.

Cerritos then drove 84 yards on seven plays for the winning touchdown. Tony Locy’s 21-yard scoring pass to Buford Joice with 15 seconds remaining capped the drive.

Fullerton leads the series, 8-3, and hasn’t lost to Golden West since the Rustlers beat the Hornets in the 1977 Avocado Bowl, 10-7.