COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOOTBALL : County Teams Start Division Play Today

There’s a great deal of evidence to explain the struggles of Orange County’s five community college football teams this season.

But the important numbers are these: the five teams are a combined 4-12 and each lost last Saturday.

But Central Division play starts today in the Mission Conference, and that means the teams will start playing each other.

Today’s Central Division games:

Golden West (2-2) at Orange Coast (0-3), 7 p.m.--Orange Coast is coming off a 30-7 loss to Mt. San Antonio in which the offense broke down much of the time. Golden West’s last outing was worse, a 66-14 loss to El Camino. Golden West leads the series, 15-12-1, and won, 7-6, last season. Golden West is eighth in the 14-team conference in total offense, averaging 339 yards a game. OCC is 11th with 300 yards.

Riverside (0-3) vs. Rancho Santiago (1-2), Santa Ana Stadium, 7 p.m.--Rancho Santiago is the defending division champion. The Dons beat Palomar in the final minute but made too many mistakes in losses to El Camino and Long Beach. Riverside’s Wing-T offense averages 172 yards rushing but only 44 yards passing.

Saddleback (1-2) at Southwestern (2-1), 7 p.m.--Saddleback is coming off a 28-0 loss to Palomar, which marked only the third time in 28 years that the Gauchos were shut out. Saddleback has yet to find a consistent running game and is averaging only 72 yards. Southwestern, which was 0-9-1 last season, is the surprise of the division so far.

In a Mission Conference game:

Cerritos (2-1) vs. Fullerton (0-3), Cal State Fullerton, 1 p.m.--Fullerton is the hard luck team of the year. The Hornets lost to Mt. San Antonio, 31-29, on Sept. 9 and to Pasadena, 24-23, last week. Fullerton failed on a two-point conversion with 47 seconds left against Pasadena. Fullerton’s Mike Jacot has run for 332 yards and four touchdowns.