Saddleback Rallies, but Falls to Long Beach in 2nd Overtime

Saddleback rallied for two late fourth-quarter touchdowns to force a tie but lost in double overtime to visiting Long Beach, 37-31, in a Mission Conference football game Saturday.

Each team missed field goals in the first overtime and Saddleback had possession to start the second overtime. The Gauchos lost 10 yards in three plays before lining up for a 52-yard field goal attempt. The kick by Scott Kirby was low and was blocked by Kyle Thorne, who picked up the ball and raced 50 yards for the winning score, ending a game that lasted 3 hours 45 minutes.

Long Beach (3-1) seemed to have the game well in hand when it scored two touchdowns in the final minute of the third quarter to take a 31-17 lead. But Saddleback forced overtime by scoring two touchdowns in the final 4:45 of the fourth quarter.

The Gauchos cut the lead to 31-24 when quarterback Jake Fitch threw eight yards to Damien Minna for a touchdown.

The defense scored the tying touchdown. Defensive back Nick Diaz intercepted a deflected pass and went 16 yards for a score with 3:47 left. The pass had been deflected by defensive end Jake Hollingsworth.

The loss marks the third consecutive time this season that the 17th-ranked team in the nation has been defeated. The first two times Saddleback was on the winning end. The Gauchos defeated Mt. San Antonio, 26-23, and were coming off a 14-7 victory over El Camino. In each of those games the losing team was ranked 17th.

The upsets pushed Saddleback into the 17th position in the J.C. Grid-Wire poll this week.

But Saddleback was in trouble before the game started. The Gauchos were without running backs Malaki Lesa and Brandon Runk because of injuries. Things got worse when fill-in Tommy Gallups suffered a major knee injury on the first play from scrimmage.

Still, the Gauchos (2-2) started with an impressive drive. They went 79 yards to the Long Beach one before Chris McCormack fumbled. Long Beach’s David Sims picked up the ball and went a school-record 99 yards for a touchdown.

McCormack came back to have a solid game. He caught touchdown passes of four and 30 yards and finished with a game-high 10 catches for 101 yards. Minna led the Gauchos in rushing with 60 yards in 12 carries.

In other conference games:

Cerritos 33, Fullerton 0--Cerritos handed the Hornets their first shutout in 145 games at Fullerton. The Falcons (3-1) were also the last team to shut out Fullerton, on Sept. 28, 1985.

Fullerton (1-3) drove to the Cerritos three-yard line with less than a minute left, but turned the ball over on downs.

Andrew Rea led Fullerton with 55 yards rushing in 15 carries. Greg Garand completed 11 of 27 passes for 95 yards with three interceptions.

Palomar 52, Orange Coast 35--Jimmy Banks rushed 19 times for 110 yards and two touchdowns, but it was not enough to beat Greg Cicero and the Palomar offense. Cicero, a graduate of Servite High, threw for 333 yards and six touchdowns.

Four of Cicero’s touchdown passes went to wide receiver Nakoa McElrath, for 71, 39, one and 42 yards. He also threw touchdown passes of 17 yards to sophomore tight end J.R. Suguturaga and 31 yards to sophomore wide receiver Shawn Brown.

Palomar, which has won 11 in a row and 19 of its last 20, had 572 yards in total offense.

Orange Coast’s 6-6, 191-pound quarterback Jared Flint completed 17 of 27 for 290 yards with one interception.

Pasadena 35, Golden West 20--Jon Weems returned a kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown and scored on a four-yard run to lead visiting Pasadena (3-1).

Golden West (0-4) got its first touchdown from Louie Ala on a 30-yard run. Ala finished with 98 yards in 14 carries.

The Rustlers scored their other touchdown on a 48-yard pass from J.D. Stern to Anthony Zaragoza.