Gauchos pull off “Miracle in Mission Viejo”

The Saddleback football team pulled off an improbable win on Saturday night when they rallied in the second half to beat Long Beach City College, 37-33.  The Gauchos trailed by as many as 20 points before rallying to improve to 2-0.

Long Beach City came into the game ranked No. 1 in the state by the coaches and No. 4 in the nation by JCGridiron.com.  The Gauchos made them look like it through the first 30 minutes, committing nine penalties with a handful of special teams gaffes in the opening half as the Vikings led 27-10 at the break. 

On the first play from scrimmage, LBCC quarterback Jake Maier found Jaylen Watson wide open on the sideline and Watson scampered 85 yards as Long Beach served an early message.  The Gauchos responded with a 10-play, 84-yard drive with Edward Vander scoring from three yards to tie the score.  On the next play, Long Beach scored as Justin Collins took the kickoff 92 yards and the Vikings grabbed back the lead.  In total, there was 21 points scored in the first 3:09, and Long Beach had run only one offensive play.

The next 30 minutes of football were ugly for Saddleback as the Gauchos couldn't get out of their own way.  Seemingly every time they made positive yardage on a play, it was called back for one penalty or another.  On defense, they jumped off sides on consecutive plays with Long Beach facing third and seven, allowing the Vikings drive to continue.  Long Beach turned it into three points.   Trailing 27-7 before the half, Marvin Marshall returned a kickoff 97 yards for a score, only to be called back for a block in the back. 

Coming out for the second half it looked as if more of the same was in store.  The Gauchos got the ball first and managed just one yard, giving Long Beach favorable field position.  The Vikings would turn it into a field goal and a 30-10 lead with 11:45 remaining in the third quarter.  On the next drive, Jacob Gibson was picked off in Long Beach territory when he was hit while throwing the ball, once again giving the ball back to the Vikings.

From that point forward, something indescribable happend as the game took a complete turn.  It was almost as if the teams had switched jerseys.  Long Beach started taking silly penalties and the Gaucho defense started to stiffen.  Long Beach was forced to punt, giving Saddleback decent field position.  The Gauchos scored in four plays with Vander scoring from 16 yards to narrow the gap to 30-17. 

Saddleback tried to catch Long Beach napping on the next play with an on-sides kick attempt, but the Vikings managed to jump on the ball at the 43 yard line.  Seven plays later, Long Beach lined up for a field goal attempt from a guy that hadn't missed all night.  Sergio Garcia's attempt from 40 yards was short, giving the Gauchos a break. 

Saddleback went right back on the offense, completing a 48-yard pass to Vander and a 30-yarder to Remy Wasserbach, putting them at the Long Beach three yard line.  Jojo Binda would cash in for the score, cutting the deficit to 30-24.

Early in the fourth quarter it looked as if Long Beach had finally stopped the rush of momentum.  The Vikings connected on a 58-yard gain on the second play as Maier found Cedric Byrd on a post pattern.  Saddleback's Alvin Williams caught Byrd from behind, bringing him down at the three yard line.  In turned out to be a huge play by Williams, as Long Beach stalled and was forced to settle for a field goal to up the lead to 33-24.

Saddleback never flinched.  The Gauchos took over on the 43 yard line after a short kickoff and Gibson found Wasserbach wide open on the very first play, flashing by the defenders for a 57-yard score to cut the lead to 33-31.

At this point, panic mode had clearly set in for the Vikings.  Following a first down, Maier completed a pass along the sidelines, but a great tackle by Williams set up second down and 11.  Following a dropped pass on second down, Maier was then sacked on third down by Jeff Holsinger and Sefo Mailangi to force another punt.   Another short kick gave the Gauchos the ball at the Long Beach 45, with Saddleback smelling blood in the water.

On the very first play, Gibson found C.J. Harris along the sidelines for a big gain to the 10-yard line.  Two plays later on second and goal from the nine, he found Wasserbach wide open in the back of the end zone and Saddleback had its first lead of the game.  The Gauchos went for two, but came up a yard short and had to settle for a 37-33 lead.

Long Beach would start its final drive at their own 16 yard line with 6:03 remaining on the clock.   The Vikings looked as if they had finally found their groove, driving the ball down the field as the clock was winding down.  Long Beach made four consecutive first downs as the Saddleback defense looked gassed.  The Vikings advanced all the way to the seven yard line and were facing third down and one yard to go for their fifth straight first down, with under two minutes remaining on the clock.  Maier called his own number, but was stuffed for no gain to set up a huge fourth down play.  The next snap was low, forcing Maier to dig it out of the dirt.  By the time he stood up, a host of Gauchos were waiting for him for a four yard loss.  The Gauchos had turned the tables, yet again.

Saddleback proceeded to run out the clock, finishing the miracle.  It was the eighth straight win for the Gauchos over Long Beach, dating back to 2004.  The game featured 908 yards of total offense, with 23 total penalties.  

After a quiet first half Gibson finished 20-of-28 for 320 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions.  He was consistently under pressure, but managed to run for 21 yards on the ground.  Wasserbach had a career night, catching six balls for 159 yards and two scores.  Vander combined for 142 yards of total offense with two scores.  On defense, Saddleback had 11 tackles-for-loss for a second straight game.  Williams finished with 12 total tackles while Karson Block had eight tackles with 1.5 tackles-for-loss.  

With the win, Saddleback is now 2-0 on the season.  The Gauchos will host Los Angeles Harbor College next Saturday at 6:00 PM.  The game was originally scheduled to be played on the road, but the field at Harbor is not ready for competition leaving Saddleback with a third straight home game to start the season.  The Gauchos will return the favor by playing at Harbor in 2017.