Rancho Santiago Falls Short Again in 9-7 Loss

Rancho Santiago College had a chance to win a game in the final minute for the second time in 2 weeks, but the Dons missed again, allowing Saddleback to escape with 9-7 victory in front of about 1,000 Saturday night at Santa Ana Stadium.

With 34 seconds left, Rancho Santiago’s Tim Snitko lined up for a 26-yard field goal attempt on second down.

The snap was a little high but Snitko got the kick away, only to have it blocked by Troy Hanley in the middle of the line.

“I just wanted to push the guard in front of me back as far as I could,” said Hanley, a 6-foot 5-inch defensive tackle. “Then I just stood up and I saw it go off my hands. I didn’t know what all was going on after that.”

The Saddleback players, coaches and fans started to celebrate while the scramble for the ball had players ramming into one another around the Rancho Santiago 30.

The Dons’ Greg Kossak recovered the ball. Rancho Santiago was out of timeouts but the field-goal unit was able to get into formation for a 47-yard attempt. Before the ball was snapped, however, Saddleback called its final timeout with 11 seconds left.

Snitko got the attempt away, but it was too low and too short.

The miss ended a tough evening for Snitko. He missed one field-goal attempt, had another blocked and had to run with another after a bad snap--all in the first half.

The victory sets up a showdown between Fullerton and Saddleback for first place in the Central Division of the Mission Conference next Saturday night at Saddleback. The Gauchos are 8-1 overall and 4-0 in divisional play. Fullerton, which defeated Riverside, 19-15, Saturday, is 9-0 and 4-0.

A week ago, Rancho Santiago (6-2-1, 2-2) had the ball on the Fullerton 3 in the final minute but couldn’t score and lost, 24-17.

Saddleback scored its touchdown in a 2-yard run by Aly Diaz with 14:55 left in the game. But J.B. Hollis’ extra point try was blocked by Tony Gonzales and Saddleback led, 9-0.

Rancho Santiago’s offense had several chances but failed to score in the first three quarters. The Dons, which had 471 yards in total offense, then employed a fake reverse to score. Mike Miscione, a sophomore running back, kept the ball and then made two outstanding cuts to complete an 81-yard scoring play. He finished the game with 159 yards rushing and has 1,005 for the season.

Saddleback quarterback Scott Stark completed 11 of 22 passes for 159 yards but was intercepted 3 times. He also led the Gauchos in rushing with 65 yards in 18 attempts.