COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOOTBALL ROUNDUP : Rancho Santiago Finally Manages to Get the One Score It Needs

On a night when “punt team get ready” frequently echoed through Santa Ana Stadium, Rancho Santiago College managed an 8-7 victory over Orange Coast in a Mission Conference football game in front of about 2,000.

Orange Coast punted 12 times and Rancho Santiago 10, and neither team scored in the first three quarters.

Trailing 7-0, Rancho Santiago finally scored on a one-yard run by Estrus Crayton with 2:24 left in the game. The Dons then went for the victory. Crayton caught a short pass in the right flat and crossed into the end zone behind a block by Paul Peters to give the Dons the 8-7 lead.

Fred Soares and Mark Maldonado both had interceptions in the final minute to sew it up for Rancho Santiago.

The winning score was set up on a 39-yard pass from from Scott Wood to Peters to get the ball to the OCC four. But the drive was set up by--what else?--a punt.

First, Rancho Santiago’s Mike Noble punted 41 yards, pinning OCC on its own five. Three plays netted just five yards, and OCC was forced to punt it back.

Tommee Walker punted to the Rancho Santiago 45, but Peters returned it 12 yards to the OCC 43, setting up the key pass play. Noble averaged 37.5 yards on his 10 punts, and Walker had a 35.1 average in his 12 tries.

The victory give Rancho Santiago a 9-1 overall record and its best season since 1962, when the Dons were 10-0. Rancho was 8-1 in conference and 4-1 in Central Division play. Rancho Santiago appeared headed for the Orange County Bowl Dec. 2. Bowl bids will go out today.

For the first three quarters neither team did much offensively, but each did miss a field goal. Rancho Santiago’s offense finally started to move and got to the OCC 15, where the drive stalled, and Scott Feldman came on to try a 22-yard field goal attempt early in the fourth quarter.

But OCC’s Joe Hester broke through the middle and blocked it. Morris Turner picked the ball up at the OCC 39 and ran 61 yards for a touchdown with 11:32 left in the game. Chris Sekeres added the extra point to give OCC the lead.

Crayton rushed for 95 yards and Peters had nine catches for 113 yards to lead an otherwise struggling Rancho Santiago offense. The Dons came in averaging 430 yards a game and had only 289.

“We didn’t execute and haven’t done so for two weeks,” Rancho Santiago Coach Dave Ogas said. “We didn’t block and just weren’t very crisp . . . But I’ll take 9-1 that is like a dream season for me.”

In other Central Division games;

Riverside 30, Golden West 24--The Tigers finish 10-0 and will play El Camino (10-0) Dec. 2 in the 7 p.m. game at the Orange County Bowl at Orange Coast College. El Camino is ranked second in the J.C. Gridwire national poll, and Riverside is third. The teams tied for the Mission Conference title. El Camino won the Northern Division, Riverside won the Central Division and Palomar won the Southern Division and will host the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Bowl also Dec. 2.

Fullerton 47, Saddleback 13--Jeff Andrews rushed for 87 yards and a touchdown to help Fullerton (6-4, 5-4, 3-2) win at home. Andrews ends his career as the leading all-time rusher with 2,403 yards. Quarterback David Chisum was 15 of 24 for 216 yards and two touchdowns. He passed for the 2,179 yards this season, the second highest single-season total at Fullerton.

John Burns rushed for 87 yards for Saddleback (1-9, 1-8, 0-5), giving him 1,022 this season.