Gauchos cruise past Dons for third straight win

The Saddleback football team won its third straight game on Saturday night with a 37-14 win over Santa Ana College in Santa Ana.  The Gauchos dominated from start to finish, improving to 3-2 on the season.

Saddleback fired out of the gate quickly, scoring on its opening drive when Johnny Stanton flipped a ball to Marvin Marshall, who did the rest with his legs and scored from 15-yards out for a 7-0 lead at 12:14 of the opening quarter.   After the Gaucho defense forced a three-and-out, Stanton again drove the team down the field on a 13-play drive, finishing with a touchdown pass to Dominic Collins from seven yards away. 

From that point forward the game was never in doubt, as Santa Ana couldn't penetrate the Saddleback defense.  The Gauchos led 24-0 at the half, rolling up 215 yards of offense while Santa Ana repeatedly shot themselves in the foot with 10 penalties.

Saddleback led 27-0 midway through the third quarter when Santa Ana finally got on the board on a 48-yard interception return for a score.  The Gauchos immediately responded, putting together a nine-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by a Stanton 3-yard run for a 34-7 lead.

Saddleback finished with a 428-276 advantage in total yardage, decidedly taking its foot off the gas pedal in the final quarter.  Stanton finished 26-of-48 for 236 yards and two touchdown passes, also leading the Gauchos with 76 yards and one score on the ground.  Collins led the receiving crew, totaling eight catches for 83 yards and a score.

As well as the offense played, however, it was the defense that put the game out of reach in the first half.  The Gaucho defenders were consistently a thorn in the side of Santa Ana quarterback's Jason Habash and Thomas Bacerra.  Habash played until late in the third quarter, finishing just 12-of-25 for 79 yards. 

Karson Block led Saddleback defense with eight tackles and one tackle-for-loss on the night.  The Gaucho defense finished with two sacks and six quarterback hurries, with a number of Saddleback players getting into the game with the outcome well in hand.

Saddleback will try to make it four straight wins next Saturday when they host College of the Canyons at the Saddleback Stadium.  Kickoff is set for 6:00 PM.