COC football can't cash in on chances

By Brent Maranto, Signal Staff Writer

 Two words football coaches everywhere cringe upon hearing.

College of the Canyons football will certainly look back on its 44-26 non-conference loss to Saddleback College on Saturday night at COC and do the same.

Usually a pretty good indicator of success, the Cougars (2-4) won the turnover battle 3-1 but were only able to convert points off one of them.

They also had both a field goal and punt blocked and struggled to slow the Gauchos (3-3) and their fast-paced offense, which converted 35 first downs on the evening.

"I've said it all year long, we're a work in progress," said Cougars head coach Ted Iacenda. "We make a lot of young mistakes and we left too many plays on the field to pull out a win."

Both teams threw for touchdown passes on their opening drives of the night, with Gauchos' quarterback Ricky Bautista finding Dominic Collins from 11 yards out to open the scoring and Tony Dawson coming right back to hit Jackson French on a 13-yard scoring strike for the Cougars.

After Saddleback made it 14-6 on drive No. 2, the Cougars proceeded to go three-and-out on offense but recovered the ensuing punt after it was muffed deep in Gauchos territory.

Dawson then rolled out and found Joshua Fuglsang in the corner of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-13 late in the opening quarter.

Down 17-13 after a Saddleback field goal, the Cougars were unable to move the ball with Devon Dunn taking over at quarterback, and a blocked punt didn't help the cause.

Bautista would fumble on consecutive drives for Saddleback but the Cougars failed to get points off either, including having a field goal blocked which would have pulled them within a point before the half.

Instead, the Gauchos marched 66 yards in just six plays to take a 24-13 lead and completely turn the momentum of the game.

The Gauchos went on to score on their first two drives of the second half, before cruising to victory.

Bautista finished the night with 330 yards and three scores on 27-of-37 passing, while Myron Buchanan led the Gauchos in rushing with 150 yards on 22 carries.

Both of the Cougars' second half touchdowns came via Hart High graduate Tim White.

Returning from injury, the speedster caught a 43-yard touchdown pass from Dunn on the opening play of the fourth quarter and then returned a kickoff 100 yards to cap the night's scoring.

"I normally wouldn't do it," said White in reference to taking the kick out of the end zone from 6 yards deep. "We were down and I wanted to get the team going."

Both COC quarterbacks had 15 passing attempts, with Dunn hitting on four for 102 yards and a score and Dawson converting eight for 63 and two touchdowns.

The Cougars will be able to regroup during their bye week, before hosting Allan Hancock in a league game on Oct. 25.