Community College Football : Rancho Santiago Runs Past Citrus

Mike Miscione rushed for 143 yards on 17 carries and scored three touchdowns to lead Rancho Santiago College to a 41-24 victory over Citrus Saturday night in a nonconference football game at Citrus.

All of Miscione’s scores came in the first half when Rancho Sanitago (1-0) opened a 28-14 lead.

Citrus rallied a bit in the second half and cut the lead to 31-24 on a two-yard touchdown pass from Matt Ipesen to Sterling Jackson with 14:18 left in the game. But Rancho Santiago mounted a 59-yard drive and got the ball to the Citrus 15.

Tim Snitko then made a 32-yard field goal to increase the lead to 34-24 with 12:12 left. From there the Rancho Saniago defense took over, holding Citrus scoreless.

Rancho Santiago added a touchdown on a 1-yard run by Dion Evans with 1:30 left.

Willey Thomas and Don Peterson led the Rancho Santiago defense with 8 tackles each. Thomas had two sacks and teh Dons had a total of 5.

Miscione scored on runs of 26, 4 and 34 yards and finished the half with 114 yards in 12 carries. He ended the night with a game-high 143 yards in 143 carries.

Alvin Price also had 119 yards in 9 carries including runs of 46 and 47 yards. Rancho Santiago had 351 in team rushing and 505 yards in total offense.

Miscione’s scoring run of 34 yards came when he took a pitch, started around right end, faked a reverse to Kerry Reed and continued into the end zone untouched.

Reed had taken a reverse earlier in the game and run 72 yards to the Citrus 6.

Citrus scored its first touchdown on 86-yard kickoff return by Paul Clark.

In other nonconference games:

Orange Coast 39, Rio Hondo 14--The Pirates got a superior effort from their defense, which returned two interceptions for scores, blocked a field-goal attempt and set up another score with a fumble recovery in an afternoon game at Rio Hondo.

OCC’s Bill Craft tipped a pass and Gunnar Wolfe intercepted it and ran 21 yards for a touchdown with 13:54 left in the first quarter to give OCC a 7-0 lead.

After the kickoff, Craft picked off a pass on Rio Hondo’s first play and ran 17 yards for the score. OCC then led, 14-0, with 13:24 left in the first quarter.

In the middle of the second quarter, Craft recovered a fumble on the Rio Hondo 17. Two plays later, quarterback Mike Angelovic completed a 15-yard pass for a touchdown to Royal Wilbon and OCC led, 24-0.

Rio Hondo scored a touchdown on a 64-yard pass from quarterback Paul Ulibarri to Yulkie Hawkins. But OCC’s Tyler Riddell returned the kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and OCC led, 31-7 at the half.

Despite OCC’s dominance on the scoreboard, the Pirates still struggled. OCC was called for 157 yards in 13 penalties including three holding and four illegal motion calls.

“I was happy with out intensity and the play of the defense,” OCC Coach Bill Workman said. “But the offense had a lot of problems. We’ve been out of sync on the practice field and we took it right to the playing field.”

Angelovic added a four-yard scoring pass to Mark Craig in the second half and was 9 of 19 for 77 yards. Brian George rushed for 112 yards in 16 carries for OCC, which rushed for 221 yards.

George was expected to compete for the tailback position with Robert E. Lee, a former Santa Ana high standout. But Lee has a sore back and didn’t suit up.

OCC outgained Rio Hondo in total yards, 314-204.

Saddleback 17, San Diego Mesa 14--Robby Smith returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown to help Saddleback to a come-from-behind victory in its season opener.

Lance Lowery passed 94 yards to Darrel Hicks and 14 yards to John Roots to stake Saddleback to a 14-10 lead early in the second half. But Smith picked off a Lowery pass in the flat late in the third quarter and ran untouched into the end zone for the winning points.

The interception was onee of five by Saddleback defenders, the last of which was made by Eric Brass to halt a final Mesa drive in the final minutes.

Lance Stewart scored one a four-yard run for Saddleback and J.B. Hollis added a 21-yard field goal.