SANTA ANA, Calif. - In their first home game of the 2023 season, the Santa Ana College Football team pulled away in the second half to defeat the LA Southwest Cougars (1-1) 41-16 on Saturday afternoon.
The Dons got off to a hot start as they forced a couple three and outs on defense before punching in touchdowns on their first two drives of the game.
William Saucedo, a freshman running back from Yorba Linda High, recorded his first touchdown of the season with a 3-yard rush to put SAC on the board in the first quarter. Sophomore quarterback Dallen Engemann connected with sophomore running back Malcom Perry on a five yard reception for the second score of the day, giving Santa Ana a 14-0 lead at the 2:40 mark in the first.
Following a couple stops by both defenses to start the second quarter, the game completely changed as the Cougars found their rhythm offensively.
LA Southwest used 13 plays to go 80 yards for their first touchdown of the day at the 3:43 mark in the quarter. They were then successful on a two point conversion to bring the score to 14-8.
A couple plays later, the Dons gave the ball right back to the Cougars as a botched handoff resulted in a fumble to give LASC great field position. It only took one play on the ensuing drive for the Cougars to capitalize on the opportunity as Michael Franklin completed a 21-yard pass to Bijon Johnson to score, making it a 16-14 game after another successful two point conversion.
It took a couple of possessions for the Dons to get back on track but they eventually found a way. Just about two minutes before halftime, Engemann found his favorite target in freshman wideout Malachi Pierce for a 36-yard touchdown, giving Santa Ana the lead back with a score of 20-16 following a missed PAT.
In the second half, it was apparent that SAC had made the right adjustments as they shut out the Cougar offense and scored 21 points unanswered to solidify their first win of the season.
Saucedo collected two more rushing touchdowns while posting 83 yards on the ground while Perry ran one in for his second touchdown of the day.
Pierce ended with four catches and a game high 107 receiving yards while Engemann's statline was 15-24 for 173 yards and two scores.
The Dons put up some numbers offensively but it was their defense that really dominated the second half. Led by sophomore linebacker Ethan Orona, Santa Ana recorded seven sacks, forced three fumbles and had one interception while giving up just 223 total yards.
Ethan Orona was undoubtedly the most productive player on the field as the standout from Archbishop Murphy High in Everett, Washington posted 11 total tackles with 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
Fellow linebackers Cole Miller and Baden Tanikawa had big impacts as well, combining for 15 tackles with 1.5 counting for loss.
Alijah Sadler, Alton Mikes, Evan Palady and Marquell Mitchell had five tackles each while Dudley Mesilien stood out with four of his own while grabbing the only interception of the day.
With the win, the Dons move to 1-1 after two weeks of action. Santa Ana will get ready to travel to Glendale College to match up with a Vaquero team that is coming off a 36-6 win over Victor Valley. Last season, SAC won the matchup in the last game of the year by a score of 44-17.
