Gauchos blast Golden West 63-38

The Saddleback football team improved to 8-0 with a 63-38 win against Golden West College on Saturday night at Mission Viejo High School.  The Gauchos had 680 yards of offense, which is the second highest total in Gaucho history. 

Saddleback shot out of the gate with a fury, scoring 28 points in the opening quarter on way to a landslide win.  The Gauchos had a touchdown run from Jonathan Jefferson on the opening drive and were off and running.  Just over two minutes later Al Gene Fisher took one over from 1-yard out and Saddleback had a 14-0 lead before the first batch of hot dogs were done cooking on the grill.

Saddleback made it 21-0 with 7:31 remaining in the opening quarter when Chance Nolan hit Clinton Allen with a 26-yard touchdown pass.   It was the first of two hookups for Nolan and Allen, who later connected on a 52-yard touchdown to make the score 42-10 with 4:26 remaining in the half.

Saddleback entered the locker room with a 42-17 advantage and extended the lead to 49-14 when Nolan called his own number for a 1-yard touchdown with 3:39 remaining in the third quarter.  Al Gene Fisher would tack on two more touchdown runs down the stretch, finishing with four for the night. 

In the end, Saddleback rolled up 680 yards of offense, holding a 34:44-to-25:16 advantage in time-of-possession.  It ended up being the second most yards ever gained in a single game by the Gauchos, just shy of the 717 put up against Ventura earlier this season.

Nolan finished 29-of-40 for 422 yards passing and three touchdown passes while leading the Gauchos with 101 yards and another score on the ground.  He now has 2,351 yards passing and 27 touchdown passes through eight games while leading the team with 674 yards on the ground.  His 3,025 yards of total offense already ranks 7^th all-time for a single-season with two games remaining in the regular season. 

Cole Harrity had another sensational night, catching 12 balls for 197 yards.  It was the largest game of the season for Harrity, who now has 49 receptions for 808 yards and six touchdowns through eight games.

The Saddleback defense took the chance to get a lot of new jerseys on the field in the second half, spreading around the wealth.  Robert Rahimi finished with a game-high six total tackles while Tyriek Bell had five tackles and a sack.  Bobby Blandino had three tackles, one tackle-for-loss and an interception.

Saddleback will look to make it nine straight wins to start the season when they travel to Grossmont College next Saturday.  The Gauchos and Griffins are scheduled to start at 1:00 PM in El Cajon.