Saddleback Picks Up Basic Win Over Fullerton

Saddleback didn’t do anything fancy against visiting Fullerton in its Mission Conference Central Division game Saturday.

The Gauchos used their strong running game and powerful defense to control Fullerton and win, 27-7.

Saddleback ran between the tackles to neutralize Fullerton’s outstanding pursuit as Brendan McGraw rushed for 111 yards and the Gauchos had 236 yards as a team, including 73 in seven carries by Courtney Macon.

Quarterback Joe Cordova threw only 10 passes, three of which were intercepted, but two were for touchdowns.

“There are two ways you can go on a game like this,” Saddleback Coach Bill Cunerty said. “You can sell out, do all kinds of crazy things and hope or you can trust your kids to do what they do best.”

Saddleback’s defense contained Fullerton quarterback Geoff Berg, who was coming off a three-touchdown, 243-yard performance in a victory over Golden West.

He was limited to 106 yards, completing seven of 19 passes. Terry Hess replaced him in the third quarter and drove Fullerton to its only touchdown.

“That was a typical step-up performance for our defense,” Cunerty said.

The loss ended Fullerton’s five-game winning streak and dropped the Hornets (5-3, 3-1) into a second-place tie with Saddleback (5-3, 3-1) and Riverside (4-4, 3-1). All three trail Santa Ana by a game with two left.

Fullerton has a chance to move back into first place Saturday, when it hosts Santa Ana at 1 p.m. at Cal State Fullerton.

“We didn’t see anything we didn’t expect,” Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said. “We made some bad decisions and had some bad turnovers.”

Saddleback scored 17 points off turnovers, including a gift touchdown for Gaucho defensive lineman Fred Roberts.

All he did was fall on a fumble in the Fullerton end zone and Saddleback led, 24-0 with 6 minutes 45 seconds left in the third quarter. The score also ended a sequence in which each team had two turnovers, all inside the Fullerton 10.

Cordova had touchdown passes of 12 and six yards and Brett Thompson tied his Saddleback record with a 52-yard field goal in the second quarter. Thompson has made field goals from as far as 57 yards in practice.

“If I didn’t send him out there to try that one [from 52], he probably would have taken a five iron and taken a swing at me,” Cunerty joked.