What a mess. Defense seemed non-existent for both teams as Golden West suffered a hard loss at the hands of Fullerton 66-43 Saturday night at Yorba Linda High.
Golden West (3-2) got off to a horrendous start allowing Fullerton (4-1) to score 28 unanswered points, 21 of which in the first quarter. Hornets' quarterback Joey Verhaegh was responsible for two of them. First was a 19-yard pass to Clayton Smith and the second was a pass to Jamal Sam for 29 yards. The other two were the Rustlers' own fault as two fumbles were returned for 34 and 60 yards respectively.
Chris d'Entremont provided the Rustlers' first score, which was a 71-yard pass to Zimari Manning in the second quarter. D'Entremont connected for a season high 5 passing touchdowns on 458 yards. Unfortuantely, the Rustler's quarterback picked-off twice ending an impressive interception-less streak of 4 games and 17 touchdowns. Manning was once again the primary target hauling in 4 touchdowns on an astounding 296 yards, a season high for him.
Fullerton scored with 13 seconds left in the second quarter and went in to halftime with a commanding 35-6 lead. All seemed to be lost at the start of the quarter when Verhaegh led the Hornets on a 56-yard scoring drive six minutes in. On a positive note, Golden West did not give in and d'Entremont connected with Manning for back-to-back 64- and 41-yard passing scores bringing the total to 42-20.
As if the first three quarters did not contain enough points, both teams scored a total of eight times in the fourth quarter, which included 7 touchdowns and one field goal. The field goal came first from Casey Eyman of Fullerton for 24 yards.
After that, the scoring onslaught began. D'Entremont threw his fourth passing score to Manning, which was for 67 yards. This was followed by a Khalil Wilson 44-yard rushing score. Wilson was Fullerton's leading rusher with 114 yards on the night. Golden West answered big time as Manning returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards for the score while almost being brought down about three times in the process. Fullerton's Oran Maxwell responded with a 37-yard rushing score. D'Entremont kept the pace and threw his fifth and final touchdown pass, a 25-yard score to Quest Truxton. All five of those scores happened in just less than three minutes.
Despite Golden West's effort to make a comeback, its hole had been dug too deep and Maxwell put an end to the game with a 26-yard rushing score. This scoring assault produced some ungodly totals. Golden West passed for a total of 458 yards and Fullerton rushed for a total of 309 yards. Both teams' total offense combined for an amazing 1,005 yards. Adding yards on defense and returns, both teams combined for an insane total of 1,378 yards.
Golden West will continue its road trip next Saturday, Oct. 11 at Ventura with a 6 p.m. start.
