Saddleback dominates Golden West College for ‘Holmescoming’

The Saddleback College football team ran away with the Homecoming game, dominating the Golden West College Rustlers 39-7 Saturday night. The Gauchos have won the last 24 of 26 matchups against the Rustlers. The team returns to glory after falling to the Ventura Pirates 44-34 Saturday, Sept. 30. Saddleback College also inducted three members of the Holmes family into the football hall of fame, renaming the homecoming game “holmescoming.”

Saddleback started off strong defensively, blocking the Rustler’s punt on the first drive of the game. The Gauchos acquired four sacks for a total of 26 yards lost and a total of 73 tackles on the night. Head coach Mark McElroy says the team executed well against Golden West, gaining a total of 261 offensive yards against Golden West.

“It was a solid victory for Saddleback,” McElroy said. “The biggest takeaway for the team tonight is that if we play together and play for the team, we can have great success.”

The Gauchos were able to rush for 116 yards, passing for 261 yards between three quarterbacks. McElroy said that it is an unusual season for him due to the fact he is playing both Cam Humphrey and Max Gilliam.

“Both players are really outstanding quarterbacks and I am real proud of them.They both work hard in practice so it is really difficult to play one of the other,” McElroy said. “Just like if you have two real good running backs, you play both of them. It is a really unusual year for me to play two quarterbacks, but they both are really talented.”

Freshman Cam Humphrey took the most snaps of the night, conducting the offense for a majority of Saddleback’s 28:40 minutes of possession time. He found wide receiver Clinton Allen for a six-yard slant pass for a touchdown in the first quarter. Humphrey said he was very impressed with the team’s performance as well as his own.

“Our team needed this win,” Humphrey said. “After that loss to Ventura, we were kind of shook for a second, but we used it as motivation to get out here and play with high energy like we know we can.”

Saddleback College’s running back makes his way through the offensive line as he attempts to get to the endzone. (Cliff Robbins/Foothill Sentry)

Humphrey threw for 150 yards, completing 15-24 passes. He racked up two touchdowns, one of them on a quarterback run, and an interception during his performance. He transferred from Boise State University earlier this year in search of transferring to another four-year university. Humphrey said he doesn’t mind sharing position time with his friend Max Gilliam, a bounce back transfer from University of California, Berkeley.

“He’s a bounce back from Cal and he’s a great player so we both need time on the field so we both can get out of here and transfer to a four-year university,” Humphrey said.

It was Sophomore Jermaine LaFleur’s first game with the Gauchos as he had recently transferred to Saddleback from Fullerton College. LaFleur had two catches for 76 yards, his longest a 51-yard sideline catch which set up the Gauchos for another touchdown. Quarterback Jack Telenko threw a 25-yard strike to LaFleur in the back of the endzone to push the Gauchos to 39-0 over Golden West. LaFleur said that he is excited to play football for Saddleback and is ready to do more damage on the field.

“It was my first game back and they were my first two catches on the season,” LaFleur said about his catches Saturday night. “Coach had put me on the single side to see a certain matchup for me to see how I would do. Of course, I won.”

Standout Freshman linebacker Jadon Digravio had his own highlight of the evening, intercepting a pass and returning it for a touchdown, fueling the energy on the Saddleback sideline. It was his first interception this season and as a Gaucho. He also had three tackles in the game, one tackle for a loss of a yard.

“I knew that they put in a new quarterback in and he was not expecting anything coming downhill so I broke on the out route and took it to the house,” Digravio said. “My brothers came into the endzone and celebrated with me so it was great play overall.”

Jeff Holmes (left), Rudy Holmes and family celebrate the newly inducted hall of fame players. (Austin Weatherman/Lariat)

During halftime, Saddleback College honored Rudy, Aundre and Jeff Holmes as they were inducted into the Gaucho Football Hall of Fame. All three brothers played for Saddleback at different times, but made the same impact. Jeff Holmes holds six punt return records and his brother Rudy Holmes ties him in most returned touchdowns at three a piece.

“It’s a great day to be a Gaucho,” said Rudy Holmes. “I never thought a day like this would ever happen. I never dreamed of being in any type of hall of fame. I just wanted to play on the football team, I wanted to be on the winning program.”

The season of 1969, before Holmes put on the red and yellow jersey, the Gauchos had reached the state finals. Saddleback moved up into a larger division with larger schools in which commentators predicted that it would take years before Saddleback could be competitive.

“They said, ‘It’s going to take the Saddleback Gauchos at least five years before they could compete in the bigger, faster conference,’” Holmes said. “We ran the table on the conference that year. We ruined everybody’s homecoming game and even beat the defending champions 25-0 on their field.”

The Saddleback Gauchos travel to Fullerton College next Saturday to face the No. 1 team in state. Kickoff is set at 1 p.m. at Yorba Linda High School.

Comments

comments