Rancho Santiago Goes on Offensive, Tops Golden West

Rancho Santiago, unable to move the ball much on the ground, turned to its big-play offense Saturday.

That and a punishing effort by the Dons’ defense resulted in a 35-14 victory over Golden West in a Mission Conference game at Santa Ana Stadium.

Rancho Santiago held Golden West to 281 yards total offense, but only 99 rushing. Things were made somewhat easier when Mark Crowley, the Rustlers’ top rusher, severely sprained his left ankle on his first carry.

The Dons were especially tough on Golden West quarterback Brian Schneider, who was sacked six times for minus-45 yards. Schneider was 12 of 27 for 121 yards, but only four of 16 for 13 yards in the second half.

Rancho Santiago experienced similar frustrations moving the ball. The Dons rushed for 157 yards, 80 less than their average.

But quarterback Simon Fuentes had three touchdown passes, including ones for 68 and 64 yards.

The 68-yarder was to tight end Chad Flick. The Dons had a second and eight and were in a two-tight end set. Fuentes looked at tight end Casey Shine on the right, then threw to his left to Flick, who was open about 15 yards down field. Flick outran the Golden West defenders the rest of the way.

“Chad was my second look,” Fuentes said. “The safety just bit when I looked at Casey.”

The play put Rancho Santiago ahead, 14-0.

The Dons went ahead, 28-7, thanks to some fine moves by Fuentes and Ace Riggins. Fuentes got away from the Golden West rush and threw about 10 yards up field to Riggins, who then broke a tackle along the left sideline. Riggins cut back to the middle and beat two Golden West defenders into the end zone for a 64-yard pass play with 4:33 left in the third quarter.

Fuentes’ 16-yard touchdown pass to Jon Daniels with 2:54 left in the half gave the Dons a 21-7 lead.

Fuentes was seven of 12 for 222 yards and no interceptions.