SANTA ANA - The Dons were driving down the field needing eight points to force overtime in their National Division, Southern Conference match-up with Golden West College, but the visiting Rustlers got the defensive stop needed to hand the Dons the 37-29 defeat.

Golden West (5-2, 2-1) held just a two-point lead at the half with a touchdown halfway through the first on a 26-yard pass before a 24-yard touchdown pass in the second. The Dons had tied the game at 7-7 with a 31-yard touchdown pass caught by Anthony Piscitelli from Lincoln Faletoi.

After Golden West's second touchdown put the Rustlers up 14-7, the Dons had a snap on a punt sail out of the back of the end zone for a safety, putting Golden West up 16-7. The Dons would answer with a touchdown with 2:09 left in the half when Tyler Siudzinski rank for a six-yard score.

The third quarter, however, belonged to Golden West as the Rustlers scored a pair of 33-yard touchdown passes by Chris d'Entremont. The first was to Zimari Manning with the second being caught by Darius Miles.

The Rustlers continued their run just seconds into the fourth quarter when Quest Trixton caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from d'Entremont to put Golden West up 37-14.

But that was when the Dons started their rally with their first score coming on a Shane Truelove eight-yard touchdown run. After the defense got the ball back for the Dons, SAC scored on a 77-yard touchdown pass from Hayden Dunn to Michael Coleman on a fake reverse.

The Dons would get the ball back one more time and drove down to the Golden West 24-yard line before a sack and a penalty backed the Dons up to the 39-yard line. Finally, on fourth down, Truelove threw a pass down the sideline that fell well out of bounds, giving Golden West the ball back with 10 seconds.