PONY Bowl : Saddleback Will Try to Survive Cerritos and Its Own Defense

Saddleback College brings a much-acclaimed offense and a much-maligned defense into the first game of the PONY Bowl doubleheader today at Orange Coast College.

Saddleback (8-2) plays Cerritos (6-3-1) at 1 p.m. in the first game of what will surely be a double dose of PONY pandemonium.

Taft (9-0) meets El Camino (10-0) in a 7 p.m. game possibly for a national championship.

Saddleback, traditionally an offensive power, won the Mission Conference championship for the 14th time in the last 16 seasons.

Saddleback, which has won seven consecutive games, scored a school-record 374 points this season and averaged 37.4 points a game.

Quarterback Howard Gasser threw a school-record 24 touchdown passes, including 9 in the last two games. Saddleback scored a school-record 50 touchdowns this season.

But then there is the defense.

Some Saturdays Saddleback’s defense was outstanding. The Gauchos shut out Grossmont, 35-0, held San Diego Mesa to 7 points, San Diego City to 6 and Citrus to 9.

Then there were those other games.

Southwestern scored 45 points, Orange Coast scored 42 and Rancho Santiago 34.

Saddleback’s defense was strafed for a school-record 202 points and 26 touchdowns. Both totals also are school records.

But not the kind of records mentioned at the team banquet.

“We have been lousy at times this season on defense,” said Ken Swearingen, Saddleback coach. “We have had some great defenses, here but this year we weren’t as effective as we would have liked.”

But Saddleback’s defense didn’t get much help from its offense, which used a no-huddle attack for part of almost every game.

With the no-huddle, Saddleback scores quickly or turns the ball over equally fast. And that prevents the defense from getting much rest or time to make adjustments.

“The no-huddle puts a lot of pressure on your own defense,” Swearingen said. “The defense has to stop the other team sometimes and is out there a lot if we keep scoring or can’t get a first down.”

Saddleback was last in the conference against the pass, allowing 259 yards a game and 16 touchdowns. But Saddleback opened many big leads, forcing teams into passing situations for most of the game.

Saddleback did shine in one aspect of defense. Led by all-conference lineman Brad Schmidt and all-conference linebacker Tom Schooler, the Gauchos allowed an average of 69 yards rushing a game, best in the conference.

“I’m not buying all that about how they have struggled on defense,” said Frank Mazzotta, Cerritos coach. “They seem to be really downplaying their talent on defense and playing up all the big numbers they gave up. I’ve watched eight games they played on film and they can play defense.”

Cerritos, which alternates two quarterbacks--Don Sebella and Shane Norris--had 1,824 yards passing this season.

Cerritos, which was the preseason favorite to win the South Coast Conference title but finished third, rushed for 1,681 yards, led by sophomore Andre Wooten. Wooten, who missed 2 1/2 games with a broken toe and a sore hip, rushed for 1,123 yards and set the South Coast Conference career record with 2,307 yards.

He sat out the final game of the season but is expected to start against Saddleback.

PONY Bowl Notes

Tickets--$5 for a single game and $8 for both--will be on sale at Orange Coast. . . . This is the second time Cerritos and Saddleback have met in the PONY Bowl. Cerritos defeated Saddleback, 34-7, at Santa Ana Stadium in 1983. . . . Then there is the interesting matter of the PONY Bowl trophy. There are two games but only one trophy. The winner of the Saddleback/Cerritos game will be awarded the trophy for after-game photos. But then it will be given back and presented to the 7 p.m. game winner. The trophy will then be shuttled between the two winning colleges as needed. . . . There will be no overtime for Saddleback/Cerritos game, but because the national championship possibilities in the El Camino/Taft game there will be a NFL-style overtime with the first team to score being the winner.

CERRITOS-SADDLEBACK COMPARATIVE STATISTICS

PASSING

Cerritos Att Com Pct Yds Int TD Lg Sabella 135 67 49.6 1,116 10 12 84 Norris 122 59 48.4 704 4 10 61 Team 259 127 49.0 1,824 14 22 84 Saddleback Att Com Pct Yds Int TD Lg Gasser 254 148 58.3 2,264 3 24 87 Team 271 159 58.6 2,500 3 25 87

RUSHING

Cerritos Att Yards YPC Long Wooten 197 1,123 5.7 7 59 Waddell 63 349 5.5 2 45 Pitchford 33 222 6.7 1 48 Team 371 1,681 4.5 10 59 Saddleback Att Yards YPC TD Long Francis 109 533 4.9 2 53 Diaz 123 465 3.8 12 23 Sweazy 33 160 4.8 0 15 Team 435 1,520 3.5 25 53

RECEIVING

Cerritos No Yards YPC TD Long Mazzotta 40 692 17.3 8 84 Willis 24 305 12.7 4 61 Bowman 20 268 13.4 1 64 Team 127 1,824 14.4 22 84 Saddleback No Yards YPC TD Long Miller 60 898 15.0 9 87 Ryan 35 684 19.5 12 52 Jenkins 27 526 19.5 3 45 Team 159 2,500 15.7 25 87