This one stings!

The Saddleback football team fell to 3-3 on Saturday night as Fullerton College came to town on Homecoming and spoiled the party.  The Gauchos led 37-17 in the third quarter before the Hornets came buzzing back to win, 48-44.

For 2.5 quarters Saddleback looked like a team ready to make a big statement, as they were comfortably in control over the No. 4 team in the nation.  Fullerton had other ideas, however, as the Hornets kept buzzing along, delivering the final sting in the final minutes for the second straight week.

Saddleback had a great start to the game as quarterback Tim Belman was razor sharp, dissecting the Fullerton defense for 302 yards in the first half as the Gauchos grabbed a 27-17 halftime lead.  The two teams battled to a draw in the third quarter as Saddleback maintained a 10-point lead (37-27), but the feeling in the stadium was that things were starting to slip away from the Gauchos as the Fullerton offense started to catch its stride.  Those feelings were confirmed, as the Hornets scored 21 fourth quarter points, with little to no resistance from the Saddleback defense. The final blow coming on a 92-yard pass from Jose Escobar to Eli Pleasant, which started out as a simple out-pattern for five yards and turned into a tight-rope walk along the sidelines.  Saddleback had one more chance, and for moment looked like a team ready to cease the moment.  The Gauchos went 49 yards in two plays, driving to the Fullerton 28-yard line with 1:22 left on the clock.  The comeback was thwarted on the next play, however, when Belman's 57^th pass of the game was batted into the air at the line of scrimmage, and right into the hands of defensive tackle Antoine Turner.  Saddleback would get the ball back one more time, but with 13 seconds remaining on the clock and 70 yards to cover with no timeouts remaining, that Gauchos would manage just five yards on a hook-and-ladder play, something the Hornets looked prepared to stop.

Despite the loss, Saddleback had a ton of major performers including Belman, who finished 38-of-59 for 476 yards and four touchdowns.  The most dazzling play came from wide receiver Eric Lauderdale, who made a highlight reel catch in the end zone on a 29-yard pass from Belman to put the Gauchos up 44-27 with 14:53 remaining in the game.  Lauderdale would finish with eight catches for 143 yards, and now has 25 catches in three games since returning from injury.  Dominick Ela had yet another solid outing, finishing with seven catches for 114 yards.  Ela is currently third in the state in both receptions (52) and yards-per-game (125.0) following the performance.

Despite surrendering 48 points, Saddleback had some very good performances on the defensive side of the ball as Davontae Merriweather, Duran Workman and Rex Wasserbach all finished in double-digits in tackles. 

Saddleback will try to pick up the pieces next week when they travel to Orange Coast College to take on the 2-5 Pirates.  Game time is set for 7:00 PM.