COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Rancho Santiago Mistakes Lift El Camino

Not even Rancho Santiago’s defense, expected to be one of the best in Southern California, could save it Saturday.

The Dons had three fumbles and four interceptions and lost to El Camino, 30-23, in the season-opener for both teams at Santa Ana Stadium.

Despite the mistakes, Rancho Santiago still had a chance late. The Dons’ rally started when Jermaine Gray scored on a 12-yard run with 3 minutes 6 seconds left in the game to trail, 30-16. Gray had a chance to score earlier but fumbled through the end zone late in the third quarter.

The Dons’ defense helped set up the next score when defensive lineman Allen Witten hit El Camino reserve quarterback Brian Field, forcing a fumble that defensive back Andre Holmes recovered at the Warrior 30. Holmes had also recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff.

Rancho Santiago quarterback Grant Mitchell completed a 30-yard scoring pass to tight end Chad Flick with 2:03 left to play to cut El Camino’s lead to 30-23.

The Dons tried an onside kick but El Camino recovered. Still, the defense forced El Camino to punt after three plays, and the Dons got the ball back on their 32 with 58 seconds left and no timeouts.

Mitchell completed two passes to Tristan Lynch to advance the ball to the El Camino 42 but Mitchell’s pass was intercepted by defensive back Chaka Thomas with five seconds left.

It was the third interception for Thomas, who also had two fumble recoveries.

“You can’t make that many mistakes against a good team and expect to win,” Rancho Santiago Coach Dave Ogas said.

The day started much better for Rancho Santiago, which took a 9-0 lead when Rob Petko completed an eight-yard pass to Flick with 2:58 left in the first quarter.

The momentum changed when Thomas recovered a fumbled punt by James Stewart at the Rancho Santiago 20. El Camino scored on the next play when quarterback Frank Ramirez completed a 20-yard pass to Antoris Coleman with six seconds left in the quarter.

El Camino’s David Scanlon kicked field goals of 33, 25 and 21 yards in the second quarter to give the Warriors a 16-7 halftime lead. Two of the three field goals were set up by Rancho Santiago turnovers.

“We need to work on fielding punts more,” Ogas said. “That’s just dumb football. Our defense just played great holding them to field goals.”

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In another nonleague game:

Long Beach 42, Golden West 14--Dennis Dixon made his head-coaching debut for Golden West Saturday but the game turned out to be a party for Long Beach quarterback Neo Aoga.

Aoga, a strong-armed sophomore, threw six touchdown passes as the Vikings rolled to a 42-14 victory over Golden West in a nonconference game at Orange Coast.

Aoga, who is 6 feet 3 and 260 pounds, was able to withstand much of Golden West’s pressure, giving him added time to find open receivers. He was not sacked.

In a little more than three quarters, Aoga was 18 of 30 for 424 yards and no interceptions. His six scoring passes was one short of his Long Beach-record seven set last season. He has thrown 28 touchdown passes in his 12-game career at Long Beach. His single-game best for yardage is 454.

Aoga combined with Jason McCorvey for scoring passes of nine, 74 and 78 yards. On the 78-yard scoring play, which came late in the third quarter, the Golden West defensive back left the receiver because Aoga appeared sacked.

Golden West’s Brian Schneider was no match for Aoga but did throw two touchdown passes to tight end B.J. Crabtree. He was 11 of 26 for 88 yards and three interceptions.

Golden West trailed, 21-7, at the half and had reached the Long Beach 27 midway in the third quarter but turned the ball over on downs.

Two plays later, Aoga and McCorvey combined on a 74-yard pass-play for a touchdown and a 28-7 lead with 5 minutes 37 seconds left.

Dixon took over at Golden West last spring after 18 years as an assistant.