Photos by Josh Thompson (Chino Valley Champion)
Football:
For the first 26 minutes or so of Saturday’s National Central Conference showdown, Golden West looked more like the state’s top-ranked program.
The Rustlers led their hosts from Mt. SAC, 21-3, in a winner-take-all scenario.
However, the Mounties rallied for a 34-27 victory after out-scoring Golden West, 24-6, in the second half.
The come-from-behind win secured an outright conference championship and a perfect regular season at 10-0.
In a rare occurrence, the best player from Golden West (Will Burns) and Mt. SAC (Devin Miles) fumbled the ball on their first play from scrimmage in the first (MSAC) and second (GW) halves.
Both turnovers were cashed in for seven points.
Trailing 21-10 to open the second half, Brayden Hapner recovered a Burns fumble.
Shortly thereafter, Noah Fuailetolo hit Pierce Brown on a 38-yard TD pass.
At the 8:04 mark of the third quarter, Mt. SAC would take its first lead of the game after De’Shon Thompson reeled in an 11-yard TD pass from Fuailetolo.
Fernando Mancil allowed Golden West to regain the lead thanks to field goals of 37 and 31 yards.
Not to be outdone, Jacob Bonilla booted a 32-yard field goal with 4:44 to play, and the game was tied at 27-27.
The Rustlers were just starting to mount what they hoped would be a time-consuming and scoring drive.
And on a third-down play, it looked like Golden West was about to pick up a first down.
But Kalim Mikhail made one of the most consequential tackles in the open field to force a GWC punt.
Exactly three minutes and 30 seconds later, Devin Miles rumbled in from 16 yards out and the Mounties lead was 34-27.
Initially, Mt. SAC coach Bob Jastrab and Miles favored the idea of sliding around the 3-yard line or so.
That would have allowed the Mounties to run the clock to single digits, and to send Bonilla in for a walk-off field goal.
Plans change, so, with 1:14 to play, Miles scored what turned out to be the game-winning points.
As happy as people were on the MSAC sideline, Will Burns had still had 74 seconds to work with.
After a couple of Rustlers’ first downs, Burns threw the ball into coverage, and Juan Salas was able to seal the deal with an interception.
This game was exactly what a No. 1 and No. 4 showdown for a conference title should look like.
And the stats were insanely even.
GWC led MSAC in first downs (20-19), passing first downs (10-9), rushing first downs (8-7) and total offense (369-356).
Burns completed 24 of 40 for 216 yards.
He connected with Colin Payne on a 5-yard TD pass.
Burns also carried the ball 13 times for 67 yards, including a 24-yard TD run to give the Rustlers a 21-3 lead in the second quarter.
Payne finished with eight receptions for 65 yards.
Fuailetolo had an effective night behind center.
He completed 11-of-21 for 188 yards, tossed a pair of TDs and Fuailetolo was picked once by Jayden Jackson.
Jack Benson finished 5-of-7 for 39 yards.
Devin Miles had to work for all 101 yards on 21 carries against a stingy GWC run defense.
Miles had TD runs of 3 and 16 yards.
Thompson caught eight passes for 123 yards and the one score.
The former Northview receiver also caught a huge fourth-down pass that allowed the Mounties to extend a drive and score.
Bonilla, one of the most reliable JC kickers, went 4-for-4 on extra-point attempts, and he had field goals of 38 and 32 yards, respectively.
Teyondre Coleman led the Mt. SAC defense with six tackles, while Juan Salas and Darrell Tripline had five each.
Antonio Mayes, Julien Lopez and Kalim Mikhail contributed four tackles apiece in Saturday’s win.
Up next: The Mounties will take next week off, and they’ll host a playoff game on November 30th.
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Box Score:
GW: 7-14-3-3-(27)
MS: 3-7-14-10-(34)
Scoring:
GW: Kendrick Thomas 33 run (Fernando Mancil kick)
MS: Jacob Bonilla 38 FG
GW: Colin Payne 5 pass from Will Burns (Fernando Mancil kick)
GW: Will Burns 24 run (Fernando Mancil kick)
MS: Devin Miles 3 run (Jacob Bonilla kick)
MS: Pierce Brown 38 pass from Noah Fuailetolo (Jacob Bonilla kick)
MS: De’Shon Thompson 11 pass from Noah Fuailetolo (Jacob Bonilla kick)
GW: Fernando Mancil 37 FG
GW: Fernando Mancil 31 FG
MS: Jacob Bonilla 32 FG
MS: Devin Miles 16 run (Jacob Bonilla kick)
Saturday’s National Central Conference Scores:
Long Beach 17, Citrus 14
Cerritos 49, ELAC 23
OCC def. SBVC via forfeit
Mt. SAC 34, Golden West 27
National Central Conference Standings:
Mt. SAC (10-0, 7-0)
Golden West (8-2, 6-1)
Long Beach (6-4, 5-2)
Cerritos (5-5, 4-3)
Citrus (5-5, 3-4)
Orange Coast (2-8, 2-5)
ELAC (2-8, 1-6)
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