Huntington Beach, Calif. - The defense has not allowed a touchdown in the last eight quarters as they held visiting Saddleback College to a field goal in a 34-3 victory Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Rustlers improve to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in National Southern League play and Saddleback falls to 2-5 overall and 0-2 in league play.
Golden West came out on the opening drive of the game and scored on a 2-yard touchdown run by Mike Carrillo to take a 7-0 lead. The Rustlers and Bobcats traded a few possessions until Saddleback hit a 22-yard field at the end of the first quarter to cut the lead to 7-3.
That would be the last time Saddleback would score as the defense just shut them down in the final three quarters. Golden West would take a 10-3 lead to the locker room at halftime after Jake Cipres drilled a 40-yard field goal with 2:06 remaining in the second quarter.
The defense tallied four takeaways on the afternoon, Alex Raich got it started with his first interception of the season to end the first half. The second takeaway was a forced fumble by Josue Alexandre to start the fourth quarter that was recovered by Christian Carmona. Defensive back Codie Sauvao then recorded his second intercetion of the season and returned it 35 yards. Then for good measure on the very next Saddleback possession, Xavier Streeter picked-off Saddleback's quarterback and returned it 16-yards.
The offense took advantage of the fourth quarter takeaways by posting 24 points in the quarter to put the game out of reach. Quarterback Jake Retzlaff had another great performance, throwing for 337 yards on 20 of 36 passing with one touchdown. His lone throwing touchdown pass was a 72 yard strike to wide out John Ojelabi for his second touchdown catch of the season. The three headed rushing monster the Rustlers have in the backfield all scored, Carrillo in the first quarter, Gianni Hurd, and Jared Johnson in the fourth quarter.
Golden West will be at home again on Saturday, October 30th as they host San Bernardino Valley College with a 1pm kickoff.
