After crushing Victor Valley College on the road last weekend, Santa Ana College suited up for a conference matchup at home against Compton Community College on Saturday, Oct 21. Only one team showed up, as the Dons held a 57-0 lead in a game that was cut short.
The discrepancy was apparent even before kickoff. The Compton Tartars only had 17 players on their roster, compared to the Dons 71. As a result of a low player count, Compton deployed players at multiple positions. This heavily affected them later in the game, as players were gassed from playing both offense and defense all game.
“We just had to come out fast, so that’s what we did,” said Santa Ana wide receiver Malachi Pierce. “We executed great today, with a solid performance from the offense. I feel like the team handled themselves pretty well, they stayed humble and didn’t get too cocky. We didn’t play down to their level, we played our potential.”
By the end of the first quarter, the Dons were already up 24-0, which led to an agreement between both teams to shorten the quarters from 15 minutes to only 10. Across five drives by Compton in the first quarter, Santa Ana’s defense held them to -23 yards.
By halftime, most of the Dons’ starters sat on the bench and admired the 37-0 score. Sophomore quarterback Beck Moss led them to five more touchdowns throughout the game, four through the air.
“I have got to thank the O-line and receivers, they’re all there for me.” said Moss, “It was a great team win, another league win. We’re going for a ring, that’s our goal so we’re moving on to next week now.”
At the start of the third quarter, both teams agreed to shorten the game from 10-minute quarters to eight.
Compton moved down the field for the first time, getting all the way to the Santa Ana 21-yard line. However, linebacker Zamir Richardson intercepted Tartar quarterback Taylor Hemphill and returned it 85 yards for the pick-6.
Although having a busy day with extra points and kickoffs, Dons’ Freshman punter/kicker Aaron Hotchkiss didn’t have any punting opportunities due to the Dons offense being nearly unstoppable
“Man… fuck the offense,” Hotchkiss joked. “I need to get stats out here and they’re not letting me punt at all, it’s bullshit, but on a more serious note, this team is special, expect us to be in a bowl game.”
The game cut short only three minutes into the fourth quarter after Santa Ana scored another touchdown, bringing the final score to 57-0 in only 36 minutes of play.
Despite the Dons’ dominance on Saturday evening, they still have some small errors to work out.
“We got to clean up the mistakes,” said SAC’s coach James Guglielmana. “We still have sloppy plays, not doing our job sometimes, jumping offsides, and committing penalties. If we clean up the little things, we can come out with a championship.”
The Dons are now 2-0 in league play and 6-1 overall. SAC will now play back-to-back away games against league opponents West LA and Chaffey before returning home for the final regular season game against Desert College.
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