Community College Football : Surprising Rustlers Aim for Bowl Victory

In early September, there was little indication that Golden West College would be getting ready for a bowl game this week.

The Rustlers returned several solid players on defense. But the offense was a different story. Sophomore quarterback Eric Lawton, the line and the Rustler running backs were all inexperienced.

Coach Ray Shackleford figured Golden West would improve on last season’s 4-5-1 record, but not by much. After 9-2 seasons in 1977 and 1978 and a 7-3 record in 1979, Golden West had not won more than five games a season.

From 1980 to 1985, Golden West was 26-31-3 with no bowl appearances. Shackleford had been using his Decembers to start recruiting.

“I figured we could finish .500, maybe a little better if some things went our way,” Shackleford said this week. “But we played well, showed good discipline and didn’t beat ourselves with turnovers, and we were also able to take advantage of other teams’ mistakes.”

The surprising Rustlers finished the regular season 8-2 and received an at-large berth in Southern California Bowl tonight at 7 on Palm Desert’s Boone Field against Southern California Conference champion College of the Desert.

The Rustlers were 5-2 in the South Coast Conference and tied for second place with Fullerton.

Cerritos (6-1 in the conference, 7-2-1 overall) won the conference and plays Taft today in the Shrine Potato Bowl at Bakersfield.

Much of Golden West’s success should be credited to Lawton.

He completed 125 of 223 passes for 1,690 yards with 12 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.

Interceptions were the story all season for Lawton--first the lack of them and then the frequency.

Lawton had his second pass of the season intercepted in Golden West’s 24-14 victory over Bakersfield and then threw 145 consecutive passes without an interception. During the streak, Golden West had seven straight victories and was ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation by the J. C. Gridwire.

“Eric made a lot of big plays for us,” Shackleford said. “He did everything we asked and ran our offense well all season.”

But just when Golden West was first mentioned as a candidate for a PONY Bowl berth, the Rustlers lost two straight.

On Nov. 9, Fullerton defeated Golden West, 21-7, as Lawton’s completion streak was snapped.

The next week, Cerritos routed Golden West, 32-21, as Lawton was intercepted five times.

Lawton threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to John Ostler with a little more than a minute left to give Golden West a 28-24 victory over El Camino in its final regular-season game.

Lawton and the offense were inconsistent the final three weeks of the season, but the defense, led by sophomore inside linebacker Mark Ziegenhagen, was consistent all year.

Ziegenhagen led the team with 86 tackles and linebacker Brent Riederich was second with 71. Defensive tackle George Paddock was third with 70 tackles in addition to a team-high 7 sacks.

By outscoring opponents, 148-55, in the first half, Golden West often forced teams to pass more than they planned. The Rustlers responded with 24 interceptions.

Defensive back Rene Oliver had four and Ziegenhagen and Dan Ramsey had three each.

Golden West had five interceptions against both Bakersfield and Long Beach.

“For us to get 24 interceptions was really something,” Shackleford said. “But in general, we just played good defense all year.”

Southern California Bowl Notes

Golden West will be without wide receiver Lance Perry, who has a knee injury, and safety John Whiteman, who broke his leg against El Camino tonight. . . . The Rustlers’ pass defense should be tested often by College of Desert quarterback Al Walls, who threw 26 touchdown passes this season. He has thrown 50 in his community college career. . . . William Tellum was the leading Roadrunner receiver with 50 catches for 741 yards and 5 touchdowns. . . . Golden West scored a 21-10 nonconference victory over College of the Desert in 1978 in the only previous meeting between the schools.