The Saddleback football team will take on City College of San Francisco in the CCCAA state championship game on December 12 in San Francisco at 12:00 PM.  The Gauchos and Rams last played in the Simple Green Orange County Bowl in 1992 for a mythical national title, with the Gauchos winning 24-12.

The names are different but the stakes are the same as Saddleback (10-2) heads to San Francisco (11-1) with championship on their minds.  The Gauchos have ripped off 10 straight wins since a 0-2 start and have defeated a number of heavyweight programs in the process.  With out-of-league wins over El Camino (42-17) and Canyons (19-3), Saddleback trampled through National Division Southern League play with wins over Palomar (30-13), Santa Ana (37-14), Grossmont (32-12), Orange Coast (35-22), Fullerton (39-36) and Golden West (46-32), winning by an average of 15 points-per-game.  The Gauchos have since hammered two programs rated in the top-10 in the country in the playoffs, blasting both Riverside (37-20) and Long Beach City (43-17).  Through the 10-game streak, Saddleback has outscored opponents 360-186, beating seven straight opponents that were ranked in the JCGridiron.com Dirty 30 National Rankings at one point during the season.   Saddleback has since risen to #3 in the rankings and with a win could make a claim for the top spot in the nation.

San Francisco heads into the game riding an eight-game winning streak after losing their only game of the season in week four to American River College (17-20).  The Rams went 5-0 in Bay 6 League play, beating Foothill (61-7), Santa Rosa (26-16), Diablo Valley (44-7), De Anza (41-10) and San Mateo (42-24).  They started the season with non-league wins over Sierra (25-24), Laney (28-0), Fresno City (39-34) and Modesto (41-27), and advanced to the title game by beating Butte (30-13) and Chabot (40-30) in the playoffs.  San Francisco is currently #1 in the JCGridiron.com rankings and has beaten eight different programs that appeared in the top-30. 

Saddleback's offense is led by sophomore quarterback Johnny Stanton, who leads the Gauchos in both passing and rushing.  Stanton has completed 63% of his passes for 3,168 yards and 25 touchdowns while rushing for 705 yards and 12 more scores on the ground.  He has been particularly hot as of late, throwing 10 touchdowns in the past four games against zero interceptions with three more scores in the running game.  Stanton's two favorite targets for the season have been the sophomore, all-conference combination of Dominic Collins and Zach Davis, who combined for 133 receptions, 1,904 yards and 15 touchdowns.  The offensive line is young, but talented.   They are led by sophomore center Markus Boyer (pictured) and freshman tackles Jake Nelson and Jakob Wolfe, who were all named to Southern League All-Conference teams.  Stanton (UNLV), Collins (Middle Tennessee), Boyer (Troy & Indiana State) and Nelson (Nevada) have all picked up offers from Division I football programs in recent weeks. 

Saddleback's defense has been a strength all season, and talent at all levels has been a key ingredient.  The Gauchos had six different players make one of the all-conference teams and were particularly good on the back end with safeties Marcus Meredith (sophomore), Kai Ross (freshman) and Zachary Wade (sophomore) along with corner Darryl Wyrick (freshman), who all made the all-conference team.    Up front, the Gauchos have been fierce in recent weeks with sophomore Carlton LaFrance leading the charge.    LaFrance (Cal Poly & Northwestern State) and sophomore linebacker Blake Whitlock (Northwestern State) have both picked up Division I offers in recent weeks while a number of the others are close to landing deals.

Good teams always seem to do the little things well, with special teams being a must.  Saddleback has been consistent with sophomore punter Thomas Manning, freshman kicker Aaron Ball and freshman kick-returner Marvin Marshall.  Ball and Marshall were named to all-conference teams while Manning has an early offer from Indiana State.

San Francisco has been a power for decades but many wondered how quickly they would respond to first year coach Jimmy Collins after legendary coach George Rush stepped down after 38 seasons.  The answer was "immediately" as Collins has the Rams back in the title game in his first season at the helm.  San Francisco is ranked #2 in the state in yardage defense and #11 in offense, outgaining opponents by 185 yards-per-game.  San Francisco is very good in the trenches on both sides of the ball, but especially on offense where the Rams are tremendous up front with sophomore center AJ McCollum, sophomore guard Ode Udeogu and freshman tackle Elliott Baker.  Freshman quarterback Anthony Gordon was the offensive player-of-the-year in the Bay 6 League, throwing 35 touchdowns against 13 interceptions and completing 64% of his passes.  He has plenty of weapons at his disposal as sophomore running back Elijah Dale, sophomore wide receiver Antoine Porter and freshman wide receiver Erik Phillip were all Bay 6 selections.  McCollum is an early commit to Cal-Berkeley while Udeogu has as many as 10 different Division I offers. 

San Francisco also had the defensive player-of-the-year in sophomore rush-end Rod Jones, who was second in the state with 15.5 sacks and fourth in the state with 23 tackles-for-loss.   Jones, combined with sophomore defensive end Austin Larkin (pictured) have been one of the more dominating rush-edge combinations in the state.  The Rams also have one of the better linebacker duos in freshman Anthony Giusti and sophomore Nick Pierotti, who both were named all-conference after combining for 147 tackles and 11 tackles-for-loss.  Sophomore safety Robert Taylor and freshman corner Deante Fortenberry combined for 12 interceptions and 25 passes broken-up, with Fortenberry leading the state with 19 PBU's.  San Francisco is also good in special teams, with freshman punter Michael Sleep-Dalton currently ranking fifth in the state with a 41.5 average.  Larkin has offers from five different Division I programs.  Sleep-Dalton is already committed to Arizona State and linebacker Khalil Hodge has an early offer from Buffalo.

1992

The 1992 game was a long time ago and none of the players from either of the 2015 squads were even born.  Legendary Saddleback running back Marcellus Crishon rushed for 116 yards and three touchdowns as the Gauchos defeated San Francisco 24-12 in the Simple Green Orange County Bowl, capturing its second of three mythical national titles.  The game also saw one of the better linebacker trios of Scott von der Ahe, Jeff Pease and Bernie Johnson shut down a Rams offense that entered the game with a state-leading 530 yards-per-game.  In addition, it saw Hall-of-Fame coach Ken Swearingen win his 241^st game, tying him with Hal Sherbeck for the most wins all-time in community college football.  The Rams were led on offense by quarterback Eric Gray, who signed with Kentucky but later opted to pursue a career in baseball.  The CCSF defense featured safety Reggie Rusk, who played for six season in the NFL with the Buccaneers, Seahawks and Chargers.  None of these names are considered household to most, but for those that played or watched the stories have been told for nearly 2.5 decades. 

This year's game is certain to produce a number of new names that could someday see their names on display in their respective record books.   Hopefully we won't have to wait another 23 years to tell the story. 

Kickoff is set for 12:00 PM in San Francisco on December 12.