Bobcats plead the fifth

The Saddleback football team recorded its fifth straight win with a 62-21 victory over Grossmont College on Saturday in El Cajon.  The Bobcats are still unbeaten in league play heading into the final three games of the regular season.

Saddleback raced past the Griffins on Saturday.  The Bobcats scored early and often as Grossmont had no answers on either side of the ball.

Saddleback opened the scoring on Saturday the same whey they finished off the previous game, with a special teams play and a quick score.  The Bobcats blocked a punt when Travis Arena broke through and got a hand on the ball.  Four plays later the Bobcats scored when Trey Kukuk scored on a one-yard run to take an early lead.

Saddleback then had a defensive interception on the next drive by Trevor Romaldo, who tried to pitch the ball to another player but had it recovered by a Grossmont player at the Saddleback three-yard line.  Grossmont made it count by scoring with 6:42 in the quarter to tie the game.

Saddleback then got its first real chance on offense and had an impressive drive when Kukuk engineered an eight play drive that took just 1:38.  The Bobcats cashed in when Kukuk found Marques Carrillo Edgar for an 11-yard touchdown.  It gave the Bobcats a 14-7 lead and Grossmont would never get any closer the rest of the day.

Saddleback scored 17 unanswered points in the second quarter to put the game out of reach.  The Bobcats blocked another punt on the final play of the first quarter as Broghan Daley swatted a ball and Saddleback recovered on the Grossmont 15 to start the second quarter.  Kukuk again made it stick by scoring a four-yard touchdown with 13:00 left on the clock for a 21-7 advantage.  Later in the quarter, Jackson Irwin picked off Grossmont quarterback Trenton Giles and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown and the rout was on.  Kian Afrookhteh finished off the half with a 30-yard field goal as the Bobcats headed to the locker room with a 31-7 lead.

Saddleback opened the second half by scoring on its first three drives of the half.  Afrookhteh opened with a 42-yard field goal for a 34-7 advantage.  Ezekiel Peirce pushed across for a one-yard score to increase the lead before Joey Gentilella found Rocco Hahn for a 9-yard score as the lead ballooned to 48-7 with a minute remaining in the quarter.

Saddleback tacked on a couple of more scores in the fourth quarter when Chase Christner found paydirt a couple of times to run the score to 62-21.

Saddleback's 62 points was the seventh most points in program history and the highest total since scoring 68 against Victor Valley College in 2019.  The 41-point win was the second largest margin of victory this season and the 30^th largest margin of victory in program history. 

Saddleback finished with a 454-229 advantage in total yardage, forcing three interceptions on defense with a couple of more plays from the special teams.  The Bobcat defense held Grossmont to 1-of-11 on third down conversions while the offense racked up 32 first downs.

Brennen Acosta led the Bobcat defense with four total tackles and 1.5 sacks while Brody Windham, Trevor Romaldo and Jackson Irwin all recorded interceptions.  Afrookhteh remained perfect in kicking, making both field goal attempts and all eight extra points. 

Saddleback has now won five straight games and stand at 5-2 overall and 4-0 in National Division Southern League play.  The last time Saddleback won five straight games was in 2019 when they started the season 9-0. 

Saddleback gets a tough test next week when they travel to Riverside City College for a 12:00 game with the Tigers (7-0, 4-0).