Fischer lands a whopper

The Saddleback football team gave first year head coach Jeff Fischer a great early-season present with a 40-34 overtime win over Riverside City College on Saturday in Riverside.  The Bobcats ripped off 20 straight points down the stretch to beat the perennial-power Tigers, who came into the game ranked No. 8 in the state.

Saddleback started out hot, scoring the first 10 points of the game as the offense was clicking on all cylinders at the start.  Tyler Dudden connected with Niko Lopez for an 11-yard score on the opening drive of the game as the Bobcats generated a 12-play drive that chewed up 5:27 on the clock.

Saddleback led 10-0 when Riverside City finally woke up.  The Tigers proceeded to score 21 straight points to head into the locker room with a 21-10 lead at the break. The Tigers tacked on three more points on their opening drive of the second half to give them a 14-point lead in what was starting to look like a seventh straight loss to Riverside City.  That's when the momentum started to change.

Saddleback rallied the forces and scored on five plays, with Kavaughn Clark breaking containment on the outside and sprinting 53 yards down the sideline for a touchdown.  It brought the Bobcats back within one score and seemed to energize the Saddleback faithful that made the trip to Riverside.

Riverside stretched the lead back to 14 when Dominic Cox caught his third touchdown of the day to give Riverside a 34-20 lead early in the fourth quarter.  The Bobcats then served up two massive drives to even the score with under a minute remaining.  The first drive went 65 yards in nine plays and cut the lead to seven when Dudden scrambled around the right side and raced 21 yards for a score.  The second was a masterful 97-yard drive that took 4:05 and concluded with a Dudden to Joseph Walter touchdown of 10 yards with 41 seconds remaining on the clock.

Setting up both drives was a defense that came up with two critical stops.  Saddleback halted the Tigers at their own 45 yard-line to force a punt on the opening drive and then stymied the Tigers on three straight plays when Riverside was trying to run out the clock.

Riverside had the ball first in overtime and again the defense came up big by stuffing the Riverside offense and forcing a long field goal after a sack by Orlando Gonzalez.  The 45-yard attempt was short, giving the Bobcats a great opportunity to claim the win.

Riverside had other ideas as on the opening play Dudden was picked off by David Lene to force a second overtime.

Saddleback had the ball first on the second drive of overtime and went back to the ground game.  Clark carried the ball two times and found paydirt on the second attempt, giving the Bobcats the lead.  Saddleback opted to go for a two-point conversion to put Riverside City in an awkward spot, but the Bobcats pass along the side of the end zone was wide left, giving the Tigers an opportunity to run their win streak over Saddleback to seven games with the lead hanging at 40-34.

Riverside decided to go to the ground game on the opening two plays of their drive and running back Kayvion Sibley picked up six yards on two carries to set up third down and four.  The Tigers then took a shot in the end zone but the pass to Logan Quates was broken up by Emon Carter, setting up a fourth down play.  Riverside City then opted to throw into the end zone on fourth and four and the final pass was well defended by Sedwrick Dunklin, who shielded the ball from intended receiver Camden Conner.  The ball fell to the ground incomplete as the Saddleback faithful erupted in celebration.

Dudden finished 23-of-33 for 317 yards and two scores through the air.  He also finished with 27 yards and a score on the ground.  Clark had a stellar performance, finishing with 127 yards and two touchdowns on the ground while catching three balls for 32 yards as a receiver.  Nicholas Gentilella led receivers with five grabs for 95 yards, including an acrobatic 40-yarder along the sideline on the final drive of regulation.

Saddleback's defense appeared to get stronger as the game wore on.  Noah Luginbill led the team with nine tackles while the defense picked off Riverside quarterback Jared Doolittle twice (Coen Ali, Jaden Humphrey).  Orlando Gonzalez and Luke Averell both had key sacks in the game. 

Saddleback's win over Riverside City was the first since 2015 when Saddleback went on to play in the state finals.  Saddleback now holds a 30-20 lead in the lifetime series.

Saddleback is now 3-1 overall and 1-0 in National Division Southern League play.  The Bobcats will try to keep things going in the right direction next week when they host Chaffey College for Homecoming.  The Bobcats and Panthers are scheduled to start at 6:00 PM inside the stadium.