Community College Football : Golden West Sees Lead, Then 1st Place Vanish

For the first half, Golden West College’s football fortunes looked bright. But a second-half collapse against Cerritos Saturday, left the Rustlers with only second place for their efforts.

Cerritos defeated Golden West, 32-21, at LeBard Stadium in a showdown over first place in the South Coast Conference.

Both teams had come into the game with 4-1 conference records and the Rustlers looked to headed for they championship as they established a 21-7 lead in the first half. But the 25 unanswered points the Falcons scored in the second half allowed Cerritos (5-1, 6-2-1) to clinch at least a tie for the conference title.

Cerritos needs a victory over Mt. San Antonio next Saturday to win the title outright, and Golden West (4-2, 7-2) must beat El Camino and then hope.

Until Saturday, Golden West quarterback Eric Lawton had only thrown two interceptions and at one time had 145 passes without a turnover. Saturday, he threw five.

“I don’t totally blame him,” Golden West Coach Ray Shackleford said. “He had a lot of people do things they were not suppose to do and Eric was just trying to create things that weren’t there.”

Still, Lawton completed 18 of 37 passes for 226 yards and a touchdown.

Cerritos cut the Rustlers’ lead to 21-14 when Eddie Stokes returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown with 13:46 left in the third quarter.

After the kick-off, Lawton dropped back to pass on first down but was hit as he threw, and the ball was picked off by defensive tackle Scott Zowada, who returned it 28 yards for another Falcon score. Gary Overgaauw missed the extra point and Golden West still led, 21-20.

But Cerritos then went ahead on a 16-yard touchdown run by Andre Wooten, a freshman who finished with 196 yards in 32 carries.

The final Cerritos score came on a 19-yard run by quarterback Stuart Betty.

Golden West mixed its running and passing to take a 21-7 halftime lead, going ahead initially on a two-yard dash by sophomore running back Ed McCray that capped a 12-play, 81-yard drive.

Cerritos came right back and scored on 7-play, 64-yard drive, with Dan Briones going in from one yard out to tie the game 7-7 with 3:05 left in the first quarter.

Lawton connected on a 23-yard scoring strike to Lance Perry to put the Rustlers ahead, 14-7, with 12:54 left in the half, and McCray made it 21-7 with a two-yard scoring run with 3:02 left in the half.

Fullerton 31, Compton 13--Hornet quarterback Richard Williams passed for 262 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead Fullerton (4-2, 5-4) to the South Coast League victory over Compton (1-5, 1-8) in Tartar Stadium. Williams set a single-season passing record with 2,082 yards, breaking Rocky Mouw’s 1984 mark of 1,974 yards. The Hornet defense intercepted three passes. Andrew Greer led Fullerton with 58 yards in 13 carries.

In Mission Conference action:

Orange Coast 17, Palomar 16--The Pirates (5-3, 5-4) overcame a 16-0 deficit to defeat Palomar (4-4, 5-4) at San Marcos High School. Orange Coast quarterback Jon Nowotny completed 18 of 31 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown. Palomar starting quarterback Jonathan Mitchell left the game with 11 minutes left in the first half and Palomar leading, 9-0.

Saddleback 35, Citrus 28--Gaucho quarterback Pat Hegarty completed 19 of 26 passes for 253 yards to lead Saddleback to the victory at Citrus Stadium.