Surprising Saddleback Plays OCC

Saddleback and host Orange Coast come into tonight’s Mission Conference football game at 7 undefeated.

That Saddleback fits that description is the surprise of the season so far. The Gauchos, under first-year Coach Mark McElroy, upset Mt. San Antonio, 26-23, in the opening week.

The Gauchos have vaulted from unranked to ninth in the J.C. Grid-Wire national rankings. Mt. San Antonio had started the season 17th in the nation.

“That victory was huge,” McElroy said. “There were a lot of reasons contributing to the win.”

The most obvious was a three-touchdown scoring outburst during a four-minute stretch in the third quarter. Adam Hoover came off the bench to throw a 62-yard touchdown pass, then an eight-yard scoring pass after Mt. San Antonio fumbled the kickoff.

The third touchdown came when safety Chad Harris scored on a 41-yard interception return to put the Gauchos up, 26-15.

Orange Coast scored three times in the fourth quarter in its 31-24 victory over Fullerton.

In other Mission Conference games today:

El Camino (1-0) vs. Fullerton (0-1), CS Fullerton, 7 p.m.--Fullerton will be without tailback Prescott Hill for about a month because of a foot injury suffered during a 31-24 loss to Orange Coast. Lazell Kitchen, who caught seven passes for 125 yards, will help fill in at tailback.

Long Beach (1-0) vs. Golden West (0-1), Orange Coast, 1 p.m.--Golden West’s defense showed encouraging improvement in the second half of last week’s 35-14 loss to El Camino. The Rustler defense didn’t give up a point in the second half, although El Camino did score on an interception.

Mt. San Antonio (0-1) vs. Santa Ana (0-1), Santa Ana Stadium, 1 p.m.--Santa Ana will be looking for defensive improvement after giving up a conference-worst 567 yards, including 319 rushing, in a 41-21 loss to Pasadena last week.