COMMUNITY COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : Saddleback Thinks Positive Despite First Losing Season in Football

Eight weeks ago, Ken Swearingen, Saddleback College football coach, told a room of coaches that his team wasn’t going to be very good this season.

He made a joke or two, then pointed out that Saddleback returned only two starters and didn’t have an experienced quarterback. Still, the Gauchos were picked in the polls to finish third in the conference.

After all, this was Saddleback, a team that had never had a losing record. And Swearingen had never coached a team that had finished worse than .500. He had a 98-31-5 record in 14 years at El Camino and was 115-23-1 in the past 13 seasons at Saddleback.

But with each passing week this season, the problems--and the losses--have mounted.

Then, last Saturday it became official. Riverside defeated Saddleback, 34-24, and the Gauchos fell to 1-6 with no way to reach .500 in a 10-game season.

Saddleback is 1-6 overall, 1-5 in the Mission Conference and 0-2 in the Central Division.

“The kids have a great attitude this season,” Swearingen said. “They don’t let it bother them, they just want to know who we play next. To them it’s just a game. It been hardest on the coaches, (because) to us, this is a career.”

Saddleback opened the season with setbacks to San Diego Mesa, Grossmont and Palomar, all of which have losing records.

Saddleback’s only victory came in the fourth week when the Gauchos defeated Mt. San Antonio, 15-14.

Saddleback has since lost to Pasadena, despite holding a lead headed into the final minute. Saddleback then lost to Orange Coast and Riverside.

“The first three games we were just horrible,” Swearingen said. “We had all sorts of problems, and we lost to three teams we could have beat. Now I’m seeing improvement each week and our offense is getting better. The last four games we’ve played decent football.”

Saddleback plays Golden West on Saturday at Orange Coast College, then plays host to Rancho Santiago before ending the season at Fullerton.

Cross-country: The Orange Empire Conference cross-country championships will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Friday at Central Park in Huntington Beach.

Riverside is the favorite to win the men’s title. The women’s competition should be much closer with Orange Coast, Rancho Santiago and Riverside the top contenders.

John Meagher of Riverside, Chris Parmer of Orange Coast, Roger Nava of Rancho Santiago and Zac Loomer of Fullerton head the men’s race, which starts at 2:30 p.m.

Maricela Benavides of Orange Coast is the favorite in the women’s race, which begins at 3:15 p.m., along with Eva Orozco and Virginia Emillano of Rancho Santiago and Mary Shelton of Riverside.

Football poll: El Camino (7-0) remains in the top spot of the weekly Southland poll. Riverside (7-0) is second, Ventura (7-0) third, Bakersfield (5-0-2) fourth and Rancho Santiago (6-1) fifth.

Moorpark (6-1) is sixth, Fullerton (5-2) seventh, Los Angeles Southwest (5-1-1) eighth, Pasadena (5-2) ninth and Orange Coast (5-2) 10th.

Water polo: Golden West is the top-seeded team in the South Coast Conference tournament this weekend at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach. Golden West gets a first-round bye and plays in the semifinal round of the single-elimination tournament at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Golden West plays the winner of the Cerritos-El Camino match, which starts at 10:30 a.m.

Fullerton plays Pasadena at 11:30 a.m., and the winner of that match plays the victor of the Long Beach-Mt. San Antonio match, which begins at 1 p.m.

The second semifinal match will be played at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

The championship match will be played at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, with the third-place game starting at 6 p.m.

Community College Notes

Orlando Robbins, another in a long line of outstanding defensive backs at Fullerton, is one interception away from tying the school career record of 15. Robbins, from Buena Park High School, had six interceptions last fall. He had two Saturday, raising his season total to eight. He is one behind Steve Fate (1969-70). . . . Fullerton kicker Eric Lange has tied the school record for most consecutive PATs with 26. He tied the mark set in 1983 by Rick Frank. . . . Cypress water polo player Craig Garcia leads the team with 93 goals this season. The Cypress single-season record of 124 was set by Kile Hardesty in 1980.