HUNTINGTON BEACH – No. 7 state-ranked Golden West College turned up the pressure on the defensive side of the ball to dominate a potent Long Beach City College offense on its way to a 24-3 National Central League victory over the visiting Vikings on Saturday.
The Rustlers won their sixth straight game to improve to 7-1 overall. Golden West stays on top of the Central League standings at 5-0 with two games left to play.
A first-quarter field goal on LBCC's second possession of the game by the Vikings would be all the stingy GWC defense would allow. After Long Beach drove inside the red zone, the defense held steady at its own 8-yard line to force a kick to end a 12-play drive.
Golden West's offense was held scoreless for the majority of the first half before the Rustlers quickly struck with under a minute left in the second quarter to score.
Quarterback Braden Siri connected with Tru Tanner for a 31-yard reception and then hit Jae'Sean Pete for a 38-yarder to get to the Long Beach 13-yard line with 9 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Dasani McIntosh hauled in Siri's third straight completion for the touchdown with just 3 seconds left.
Jad Othman booted a 36-yard field goal in the third quarter to extend the GWC lead to 10-3. The Rustlers finally put the game out of reach in the fourth, getting touchdown runs from Ralph Ekechi (10 yards) and Josiah Laban (2 yards).
Golden West totaled 434 yards of offense in the contest. Siri completed 13 of 20 passes for 213 yards and a TD. Tanner led receivers with 6 catches for 95 yards. And Pete led a balanced GWC ground attack with 9 rushers for 50 yards.
Long Beach, which had just scored 79 points and totaled 707 yards of offense last week, was limited to just 145 yards by the Rustlers' defense. GWC allowed 46 yards rushing and held quarterback Will Madonna, the reigning SCFA Offensive Player of the Week, to only 99 yards passing.
The Rustlers totaled 4 sacks, forced 3 fumbles, and intercepted a pair of passes. Terrel Taylor and Kaymen Su'E led the defense with 6 tackles each.
Golden West will look to keep the momentum going next Saturday (Nov. 4) when the Rustlers travel to Cerritos College for a 6 p.m. Central League game.
