With James Farmer winning player of the game, and Malichi Peirce being awarded team MVP, the Dons celebrate their back-to-back bowl game wins. Photo by Brandon Rowley / el Don

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After a bowl game drought since 2012, the Dons have now showered their coach with ice-cold Gatorade for back-to-back seasons.

Santa Ana College took on LA Southwest in the Western State Bowl last Monday, where they cruised past the Cougars 35-20.

Owen Smith, living up to his number, scoring his fifth touchdown of the season. Photo by Brandon Rowley / el Don

“This team is so resilient, hard workers, no egos,” said defensive coach James Gugliemana.” I know we had a couple of games where it was tough for us but this was the perfect way to end the year.”

The season was riddled with injuries for the Dons, especially on the offense, which led to struggles in the passing game.

But under the bright lights, during the biggest game of the year, it clicked for quarterback Nate Bento and wide receiver James Farmer

Quarterback Nate Bento and Receiver James Farmer connected for two touchdowns this game. Photo by Brandon Rowley / el Don

Bento and Farmer connected four times, two ending up as touchdowns. Bento also had a season’s best 206 passing yards and a 66% completion percentage.

Farmer earned player of the game for Santa College, while Zamir Richardson was awarded team MVP.

“I just balled out today, I found the zone,” said Richardson. “It’s a different level of play, everything slowed down for me. It was amazing.”

His two-sack, three-tackle-for-loss performance reflected his great season, which led the defensive unit to another dominant season.

The Dons controlled this game with fundamental work on all sides of the ball, and it was seemingly over by the third quarter.

Zamir Richardson blew up the run in the backfield for his 16th tackle for loss. Photo by Brandon Rowley / el Don

As the clock wound down in the 4th quarter, tensions on the sideline rose while players silently stalked their head coach waiting for their moment to strike.

The clock hit zero, and a now Gatorade-soaked Head Coach Geoff Jones spoke his final words to this team.