OCC Hoping to Prolong Saddleback’s Struggles

Orange Coast will try to capitalize on Saddleback’s struggling offense when the teams meet in a Mission Conference football game tonight at 7.

Orange Coast (0-1) is coming off a 34-24 loss to Fullerton in which the Pirates led, 21-14, early in the third quarter. Saddleback (0-1) was never close in its season-opening 34-7 loss to Mt. San Antonio, the defending national champion.

Saddleback, under first-year Coach Dick Stuetz, gained 147 yards and managed only eight first downs. Quarterbacks Nick Tomasello (four interceptions) and Joe Cordova (one interception) combined for just 69 yards passing. The good news for Saddleback was that the defense, despite being on the field a great deal, held up well.

Half of Mt. SAC’s points came off turnovers and the Mounties finished with only 247 yards in total offense despite running 15 more plays than Saddleback. Saddleback leads the series, 14-8, and beat OCC, 34-0, last season.

In other Mission Conference games:

Golden West (0-1) at Long Beach (1-0), 7 p.m.--It figures to be another rough game for Golden West’s defense, which gave up 63 points to El Camino last week. Long Beach is second in the nation in the J.C. Grid-Wire rankings.

Santa Ana (0-1) at Mt. San Antonio (1-0), 1 p.m.--Santa Ana won the conference’s Central Division and Mt. SAC won the Northern Division last season. Santa Ana played well below expectations in a 20-10 loss to Pasadena last week.

Fullerton (1-0) at El Camino (1-0), 7 p.m.--Fullerton’s Gene Murphy goes for his 100th victory as a head coach. El Camino gained 485 yards in a 63-23 victory over Golden West last week.