Will Burns tossed a 12-yard touchdown to Beck Walker with a minute left on the clock, and Fernando Mancilla kicked the decisive extra point as No. 8-ranked Golden West College defeated No. 1-ranked Riverside City College 37-36 in a nonconference game Saturday afternoon at Rustler Stadium in Huntington Beach.
RCC (1-1), the defending state champion, found itself playing catch-up from the start.
Golden West (2-0) grabbed a 14-0 lead less than 3 minutes into the game, as Burns threw touchdown passes to Robert Sarmiento (15 yards) and Noah Burdick (4 yards). The two scores came 93 seconds apart, as the Rustlers recovered a fumble on the kickoff following the opening touchdown.
RCC recovered from the slow start, however. Brady Jones fired a 27-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Cox, while Devyne Pearson and Andre Branch added scoring runs of 4 and 3 yards, respectively. The Tigers trailed 21-19 after one quarter but surged in front midway through the second quarter, when Raymond Valencia returned a fumble 23 yards for a score.
Golden West answered back, with Beck scoring on a 1-yard run to give the Rustlers a 27-26 advantage at halftime.
RCC faced a 30-26 deficit, but the Tigers again surged ahead after a 62-yard touchdown pass from Christopher Cooper to K.J. Cherry in the third period and a 24-yard field goal by Pedro Padilha early in the fourth quarter.
Golden West took possession on its 25 with 3:09 remaining in the game. Burns completed a 14-yard pass to Sarmiento on fourth-and-10, and a 23-yard scramble by Burns set up the final touchdown of the game.
Jones stared the game at quarterback for RCC and completed 20 of 33 passes for 229 yards with one touchdown and a pair of interceptions. Cooper came off the bench and completed 9 of 16 passes for 143 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Kaden Willerford finished the game with game highs of 11 receptions and 121 receiving yards.
Burns completed 23 of 45 passes for 225 yards with three touchdows and two interceptions.
RCC looks to rebound when it travels to El Camino College for a nonconference game Saturday, Sept. 21.
VIRAMONTES LEADS CHAFFEY TO VICTORY
Julian Viramontes tossed five touchdown passes as Chaffey College pulled away for a 35-10 victory over LA Pierce in a nonconference game Saturday evening at Shepard Stadium in Woodland Hills.
LA Pierce (1-1) jumped on the board first, with Maqael Henderson throwing a 9-yard touchdown pass to Dom Cureton with 9:53 left in the opening quarter.
Viramontes helped Chaffey answer back and take the lead, throwing touchdown passes to Nehemiah Harrison (25 yards) and Corey Cabriales (2 yards) in the first period. The Panthers scored those two touchdowns 35 seconds apart.
Chaffey (2-0) held a 14-10 advantage after one period, and the Panthers dominated the rest of the way.
Viramontes connected with Jeremiah Beck (2 yards) and Harrison (3 yards) for touchdowns in the second quarter, and tossed another one to Beck (16 yards) in the third period.
Deshundre Bonner, Corey Davis, Carrington Pierce and Sean McCoy each had an interception for Chaffey’s defense.
Chaffey hosts Santa Monica College in a nonconference game Saturday, Sept. 21.
MSJC RALLIES PAST CITRUS
Logan Gonzalez tossed a 16-yard touchdown to Jackson Weng with 3:55 left on the clock as Mt. San Jacinto College rallied for a 21-16 victory over Citrus College in a nonconference game Saturday in Glendora.
Citrus (1-1) had two opportunity to regain the lead down the stretch, but MSJC’s defense forced a punt and then a turnover on downs to preserve the victory.
MSJC (1-1) was led on defense by Issac Brown, who had a game-high nine tackles and an interceptions.
Gonzalez completed 16 of 33 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns. Gonzalez’s first touchdown of the game was a 26-yarder to Brye Lighon in the second quarter.
MSJC hosts Moorpark College in a nonconference game Saturday, Sept. 21 at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee.
OTHER INLAND TEAMS
San Bernardino Valley College’s nonconference game at home against Southwestern College was canceled earlier in the week because of the Line fire near Highland.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, University of La vVerne, Pomona-Pitzer and University of Redlands all had byes this weeks.
