Bobcats beat Eagles for seventh win

The Saddleback football team finished the regular season with a 7-3 record after a 41-19 win against Mt. San Jacinto College on Saturday night inside the stadium.  The Bobcats now await a bowl announcement in the coming days.

Saddleback celebrated Military Appreciation Night on Saturday, acknowledging the service members and families in the crowd.  The Bobcats also had plenty of reasons to salute their performance on the field, defeating Mt. San Jacinto to line up a potential bowl bid in the coming days.

Saddleback opened the scoring in the opening quarter when Kalelepono Wong plunged over the goal line for a 2-yard score to open the scoring at 9:55. The Bobcats scored on their very next drive when Trey Kukuk found Brayden Bockler in the middle of the field and he raced 54 yards to give Saddleback a 14-0 lead.

Saddleback took a 17-0 lead when Sean Olvera-Harle connected on a 40-yard field goal at 7:50 of the second quarter.  Mt. San Jacinto finally answered on the final play of the first half when Logan Gonzalez connected with Christian Kretz for a seven-yard touchdown as the clock struck zero.

Saddleback's lead dwindled to five at 24-19 when Gonzalez found Jackson Weng for a 26-yard score.  The Eagles missed the two-point conversion in an attempt to cut the lead to three.

Saddleback dominated the game from that point forward.  The Bobcats defense recorded three sacks in the final quarter while the offense was building back the lead.  Kukuk found Andrez Lewis on a 24-yard strike to run the lead to 34-19 with 12:54 left in the game.  The Bobcats put the game out of reach on their next drive when they went 61 yards on eight plays against a defense that looked gassed, cashing in when Christian Guarascio plowed over the goal line for a 3-yard touchdown.  It gave Saddleback a 41-19 lead with the clock running out on the Eagles.

Saddleback finished with 459 yards of offense on the night.  Kukuk was 18-of-26 for 265 yards and three touchdown passes.  Darrien Campbell led the rushing attack with 74 yards on 13 carries.  Omarjaye Black made six catches while Bockler led the team with 54 yards receiving.

Saddleback's defense bent but didn't break.  The Bobcats allowed the Eagles to work between the 20's, but then stiffened to keep Mt. San Jacinto off the scoreboard for the majority of the night.  The biggest stop came in the middle of the second quarter when Mt. San Jacinto drove to the one-yard line and failed to score.  The drive finished when Jackson Hagopian picked off Gonzalez in the end zone to thwart the drive.

Saddleback finished with four sacks and five quarterback hurries for the night, forcing Gonzalez into a lot of errant throws.  Dallas White finished with a team-high seven total tackles while Hagopian finished with four total tackles, one interception and three pass break-ups.

Saddleback finishes the regular season 7-3 overall and 5-2 in National Division Southern League play. The seven wins by Saddleback is the most wins since going 9-2 in 2019.  

The Bobcats now wait for word of a bowl berth in the coming days.  Keep it tuned to saddlebackbobcats.com for all the latest news.