Bowl game becomes home game
GUARD IT (Stephanie Plese)
The Southern California Conference bowl will be held at Saddleback Saturday thanks to the Gaucho’s dramatic win last Saturday against Fullerton, 42-39.
The game will include Saddleback vs. Cerritos College. Kick off is at 6 p.m.
The bowl will also contribute as a regional playoff semifinal game. The winner will move forward into the regional finals during Thanksgiving weekend.
After their 28-7 win over Allan Hancock College on Saturday, Cerritos is 8-2 and ranked the no. 3 seed.
Saddleback is ranked no. 2 and also has a record of 8-2.
After the game played Saturday, Saddleback earned the right for the bowl game to be at home.
The team started off slow letting Fullerton score a touchdown with nine minutes left in the first quarter. The Gauchos quickly kicked it into gear when they blocked Fullerton’s extra point.
Four minutes later Saddleback gained a lead that would be kept for the majority of the game. A 60-yard pass from Sean Reilly to Rodney Woodland landed the Gauchos a touchdown and Michael Frisina helped with the extra kick.
In the second quarter Saddleback wide receiver Julian Williams caught a pass from Reilly to gain an eight-point lead.
Fullerton defense could not stop Williams when he caught another pass from Reilly to score another touchdown less than two minutes later.
Running back for Fullerton, Kelvin York scored a touchdown with a minute and thirty seconds left in the quarter. This brought the score to 21- 13 at the half for Saddleback.
The third quarter opened up with a touchdown from Fullerton and quite a few penalties caused by both teams.
The series of penalties ended in running back Donnell Dickerson scoring a touchdown with about five minutes left in the quarter.
Leading by 10 points, the Gauchos thought they had the win but Fullerton tried to change that.
Six minutes into the fourth quarter the Hornet’s Kelvin York had another touchdown giving the team hope.
The Gaucho’s did not appreciate the closeness of the score and Matt Belardes scored a touchdown with a pass from quarterback Sean Reilly.
Both sides of fans became quiet when the score board had only five minutes left in the game and Fullerton scored another touchdown bringing the game back to a difference of only two points.
Silence did not last for long when the Hornets side roared after they scored another touchdown three minutes later. This gave them their second lead of the game.
Mike Di Domenico, Saddleback’s offencive tackle, said, ” We put points on when it mattered.”
Fans realized this and that they started packing up too soon when an interference call moved the ball from the 10- yard line to the 2-yard line with 45 seconds left in the game.
Rodney Woodland made an unbelievable catch on Sean Reilly’s pass to score the final touchdown of the game with 34 seconds on the scoreboard.
The Gauchos worked as a team to defeat the hornets at Cal State Fullerton’s field.
Line backer Scott Graves said, “It was by far the biggest win of the season.”
The team is looking forward to host the Bowl game this Saturday as expressed by many players after the game.