FACTS AND FIGURES

THE NEW ORDER

Orange Coast, in the interest of balance, slides to the Northern Division of the Mission Conference for this and next season.

The move became necessary when San Diego Mesa left the Northern Division after last season in favor of the Foothill Conference.

Orange Coast joins Cerritos, El Camino, Long Beach, Mt. San Antonio and Pasadena for the next two seasons.

But the plan is for the other teams from the Central Division, which is made up of Fullerton, Golden West, Palomar, Riverside, Saddleback and Santa Ana, to move over for two years each as part of a rotation.

Orange Coast will still play Fullerton, Saddleback and Santa Ana in the first three weeks of the season but won’t play district-rival Golden West. The matchup is the top attendance draw for both colleges.

The official explanation is that the schedule is done by computer and the matchup didn’t come up.

“Those are the wise decisions made by people who live in air-conditioned offices that don’t tell us what’s going on,” OCC Coach Bill Workman said.

Golden West Coach Mike Shaughnessy didn’t want to comment because nothing can be done about it this season.

Fullerton’s Gene Murphy wasn’t as shy.

“That was a total surprise for all of us,” he said, “It’s a mortal sin of the first degree [not to schedule such rivals]. It’s ridiculous.”

1997 IN REVIEW

The start of Santa Ana’s season was disastrous because the Dons dropped the first three games. But all along Coach Dave Ogas talked about how much he liked his players and how much fun they were to be around.

Things got downright giddy as Santa Ana launched an eight-game winning streak that included defeating Fullerton in the 75th meeting of the state’s oldest community college rivalry.

Santa Ana’s season concluded with a long bus ride to Lancaster, where the Dons beat Antelope Valley, 31-20, in the McDonald’s Bowl. The Dons were 14th in the nation in the final J.C. Grid-Wire rankings.

The Dons’ Tramel Robinson, a sophomore from Foothill High, had little trouble with the rain-soaked field as he gained 158 yards in 34 carries. Sam Stremick caught seven passes for 153 yards and was selected the game’s most valuable player.

Robinson, who set Santa Ana’s single-game rushing record with 288 yards against Riverside, was selected the Mission Conference’s most valuable player.

Santa Ana defensive back Kody Miller was the defensive MVP and Ogas was the coach of the year in the conference.

Saddleback, which won the national championship in 1996, extended its winning streak to 18 with an overtime victory over El Camino but was beaten in the second week of the season by Cerritos. The Falcons won, 14-13. Saddleback went on to finish second in the division.

Fullerton, Riverside and Palomar tied for third in the division but it was a heart-breaker for the Hornets. Fullerton was 5-2 and seemingly a lock for a bowl game only to lose to Saddleback, Santa Ana, and Orange Coast in the final three weeks.

The loss to Orange Coast ended a school-record 17-game losing streak for the Pirates, who later received a forfeit victory over Pasadena.

Golden West ended the season by scoring 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to beat Pasadena, 35-31. The winning score came on a 90-yard pass from quarterback John Frank to Darrell Miles with 4 minutes 40 seconds left in the game.

League Standings

*--*

Standings W L T Santa Ana 6 0 0 Saddleback 4 2 0 Fullerton 3 3 0 Riverside 3 3 0 Palomar 3 3 0 Golden West 1 5 0 Orange Coast 1 5 0

*--*

Overall Standings

*--*

Standings W L T Santa Ana 8 3 0 Saddleback 6 4 0 Fullerton 5 5 0 Riverside 4 6 0 Palomar 6 5 0 Golden West 3 7 0 Orange Coast 2 8 0

*--*

Leaders

Statistics include regular-season games only

*--*

PASSING Att Cp TD Yds Frank, Golden West 293 150 18 1,968 Berg, Fullerton 239 115 13 1,403 Lappin, Santa Ana 170 114 12 1,351 Collins, Orange Coast 200 108 9 1,332 Wilson, Saddleback 104 49 8 711

*--*

*--*

RUSHING Att Yds Avg Robinson, Santa Ana 206 1,148 5.6 McGraw, Saddleback 145 673 4.6 Wilridge, Fullerton 103 539 5.2 Rubalcava, Golden West 114 469 4.1 Schley, Santa Ana 66 340 5.2

*--*

*--*

RECEIVING Att Yds Avg McCullough, Golden West 47 729 15.5 Scott, Fullerton 36 568 15.8 Mercer, Orange Coast 32 442 13.8 Tessier, Golden West 30 444 14.8 Miles, Golden West 27 420 15.6 Kenney, Santa Ana 27 320 11.9

*--*

*--*

SCORING TD FG XP Pts Robinson, Santa Ana 16 0 0 96 Wilaikul, Santa Ana 0 8 46 70 B. Thompson, Saddleback 0 12 23 59 P. Thompson, Saddleback 9 0 0 54

*--*