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SANTA ANA, CA - Despite rolling up nearly 400 yards in total offense, two costly fumbles and 12 penalties led to a disappointing 31-24 loss for Santa Ana College (2-1) to rival-Fullerton College (3-0) in the “Key to the County” series, the longest running California Community College football rivalry, Saturday.
 Fullerton jumped out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead and held on for the Hornets’ fifth consecutive win over the Dons. Mike Trimble and Joe Chatman scored on runs of 12 and 3 yards, respectively, on Fulleton’s first two drives of the game and the Hornets scored its third first-quarter touchdown when Joel Janks returned Kaleo Igarta’s fumble 36 yards for a score.
Santa Ana cut Fullerton’s lead to 21-10 at halftime with a 20-yard field goal by Curtis Gladden and a two-yard touchdown pass from Daniel Morales to Jesse Vega.
The Hornets outscored the Dons 10-7 in the third quarter to take a 31-17 lead into the fourth quarter. Santa Ana looked poised to cut Fullerton’s lead to just seven but Devonte Merrifield’s fumble at the Fullerton one-yard line ended a 10-play, 69-yard drive.
After holding the Hornets on downs the Dons made it a 31-24 game when Kaleo Igarta capped off an eight-play, 48-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown run with 8:41 remaining.
After Fullerton missed an opportunity to make it a two-possession game after a 16-play drive culminated with a 23-yard missed field goal by Mauricio Garcia, Santa Ana had one final attempt to force overtime but Morales’ fourth-down pass to Trent Sakioka was broken up by Darryl Gober near midfield to end the Dons’ final drive.
Santa Ana rolled up 395 yards of total offense behind Morales who passed for 292 yards and two touchdowns on 20 of 39 passing and Merrifield who rushed for a team-high 113 yards on just 14 carries. Sakioka was Morales’ main target hauling in a season-high nine passes for 153 yards and one touchdown.
Next: Palomar College (3-0) vs Santa Ana (2-1), Saturday, September 24,
1 p.m., at Santa Ana Stadium/Eddie West Field.
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