Big Win Keeps Rustlers Undefeated

Shutdown defense and a first half scoring barrage helped Golden West earn a 54-7 victory over Santa Ana, extending its winning streak to seven games.

The Rustlers (7-0, 3-0) were doing everything right on both sides of the ball from the very beginning. Thanks to fantastic defense, running back Johnny Hills was able to put up the first score of the game, an 8-yard rush. This was brought on by an interception by safety Daniel Tejeda. What makes this interesting is that Tejeda's pick was the second one issued by Santa Ana (1-6, 0-3) quarterback Jason Habash. Rustlers' safety Johnny Johnson picked off Habash on the previous drive, which was the first drive of the game. Golden West's defense would corral a total of 5 interceptions, which all came in the first half.

After Hills' run, quarterback Adam Vance took over the leading role and tossed 3 touchdown passes. The first one was a 70-yard bomb to Denim Sansom, who had blown passed the Dons' defense, and all he had to do was let the perfect pass fall into his hands. Quest Truxton was the recipient of the next three scoring passes. Vance tossed him two for 11 yards each, and Josh Smith connected with him for a 5-yard score out of the Wildcat.

Truxton, Vance and Sansom all finished well statistically. Vance went 11-20 with 169 yards. Truxton's 3 touchdowns were his only catches on the day and Sansom hauled in 4 passes for 95 yards. Running back Kekou Akengue ran the defense ragged collecting 105 yards on 13 carries.

While the offense had a fantastic showing, the defense set the table for multiple scoring drives. To go along with Johnson and Tejeda, Dominic Sesay, Silas Collins and Kory Garcia grabbed interceptions. Collins and Justin Stewart each recorded a sack, and Jake Jiannoni led the defense with 4.5 tackles.

Golden West travels to Palomar for the Halloween game next Saturday. The next home game is Nov. 7, which is the annual Battle for the Bell against archrival Orange Coast.