Dons Lose “Key” Football Game to Hornets

Dons running back Deven Boston (21) is tackled for a loss in Santa Ana’s 56-17 loss to Fullerton College Saturday Sept. 3. / Aurielle Weiss / el Don
Dons running back Deven Boston (21) is tackled for a loss in Santa Ana’s 56-17 loss to Fullerton College Saturday Sept. 3. / Aurielle Weiss / el Don

The Fullerton College Hornets locked-down the Santa Ana College Dons 56-17 in the Key to the County game Saturday night, winning its 10th rivalry game in a row at Santa Ana’s Eddie West Field.

Fullerton freshman QB Jordan Hoy single-handedly crushed the Dons, throwing for 5 touchdowns, and scoring another rushing, totaling six TDs.
Hoy went 24 of 33 passing for 302 yards, and ran seven times for 71 yards in the 94th meeting between Santa Ana and Fullerton that began a century ago.

Hoy was tabbed as the game’s offensive most valuable player.

The Dons fell behind early on Hoy’s 9-yard run in the first quarter, but Santa Ana sophomore Jonah Mack rallied the Dons with a 21-yard field goal, ending the first quarter down 7-3.

Hoy extended Fullerton’s lead in the second quarter, connecting with Markus Grossman on a 35-yard pass play giving Fullerton a 14-3 lead.

Santa Ana quickly rallied, when sophomore Hakeem Thomas Williams recovered a loose ball from a high snap on a punt and returned it 6 yards for a TD making it 14-10.

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But the second quarter was far from over for the Hornets.

Fullerton scored three TDs to take a 35 -10 lead, humbling the Dons defense.

With 26 seconds left in the first half, SAC quarterback Conner Miller connected on a 24-yard pass play to sophomore wide receiver Kameron Taylor making the score 35-17 at halftime.

The Hornets finished by scoring 21 unanswered points and holding the Dons to 204 yards of total offense.

“We have to figure things out up front when we pick up blitzes and everything. Defensively they were holding it down for the most part we just have to capitalize on turnovers,” sophomore QB Thomas Bacerra said.

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Although Dons Head Coach Adam Nyssen found some positives in the game, he was disappointed in Fullerton’s sportsmanship.

“There were some unethical calls made by Coach Byrnes and that’s kind of the mentality for that team, but it will make it that much sweeter when we beat them,” said Nyssen.

Fullerton Coach Tim Byrnes disagrees saying, “It’s college football; we want to give everyone a chance. That means we’re going to use all of our guys, our first, second, and third string.”

Nyssen is hopeful that his team will rally and play better Saturday against Victory Valley College.

“We got a lot of guys who did a lot of great things tonight so we’re gonna’ capitalize on some of the positives so we can be more successful next game,” Nyssen added.

Victory Valley College will be hosting Santa Ana Saturday night at 6 p.m.

Aurielle Weiss

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