COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOOTBALL ROUNDUP : Fullerton Fumbles, Saddleback Slides to 17-3 Victory

The harder it rained Saturday night at Fullerton District Stadium, the louder the players from Saddleback and Fullerton cheered.

But in the end, only Saddleback--led by a dominating defense--left happy; the Gauchos defeated Fullerton, 17-3, in a Mission Conference Central Division game in front of about 700.

By the middle of the first quarter, rain had turned the middle of the field into a mire. This figured to give Fullerton the advantage, because it came in averaging 261 yards rushing. But the Hornets (4-2, 0-1 in divisional play) were held to only 45.

Fullerton’s Brian Williams came in with a conference-best 658 yards rushing, but was limited to nine yards in eight carries on a field where cutting was almost impossible. John Mountain had 527 but was held to 16 in eight carries.

Fullerton had only 115 yards in total offense, including 45 yards rushing in 35 tries. Saddleback had 360 yards in total offense, including 235 rushing.

In the middle of all the mud and muck was Saddleback sophomore linebacker Todd Norman. He was in on 10 tackles, intercepted a pass and recovered two fumbles. One of the fumble recoveries and the interception each set up Saddleback touchdowns.

“It was great to get down and dirty like this,” Norman said. “We don’t get too many chances to play in the rain. They put the ball on the ground a few times and I was ready to recover it.”

Norman’s second recovery came early in the fourth quarter at the Saddleback 45.

Six plays later, Matt Carvalho capped the drive with a 19-yard run up the middle for a touchdown with 10 minutes 47 seconds left to give Saddleback a 17-3 lead.

Carvalho finished with a game-high 106 yards in 13 carries, including one for 43 yards in the first quarter.

Marcellus Chrishon added 65 yards in 14 tries for Saddleback (5-1, 1-0).

“I didn’t figure the run would favor us,” Saddleback Coach Ken Swearingen said. “But it did. It’s a shame such an important game between two good teams had to be played in these conditions.”

The first half ended in frustration as Saddleback failed to score from the one-yard line.

Quarterback Tim Snowden had completed a 21-yard pass to Jason Vivonia to get the Gauchos to the Fullerton one with 17 seconds left, but with no timeouts.

Snowden tried to sneak it in but was stopped. The pile was slow getting up and time ran out before Saddleback could get off another play.

Saddleback took a 10-0 lead when Chrishon ran in from the six with 13:03 left in the first half. The score was set up when Norman returned an interception 15 yards to the Fullerton 26.

Fullerton’s only points came when Scott Szeredy kicked a 44-yard field goal with 1:51 left in the half.

In another Mission Conference Central Division game:

Riverside 44, Golden West 13--The Rustlers’ fumbles proved to be their undoing on a rainy night in Riverside.

Golden West (4-2, 1-1) outgained Riverside (2-4, 1-1), 312-306, but fumbled six times, losing four.

The Rustlers led, 13-10, after Josh Klein’s 28-yard field goal 4:16 before halftime, but Riverside scored the game’s final 34 points.