Saddleback Makes Mistakes, Long Beach Wins

Fourth-ranked Long Beach capitalized on two fourth-quarter turnovers by 23rd-ranked Saddleback to defeat the Gauchos, 27-21, in front of an announced crowd of 1,231 Saturday at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Long Beach.

Sean Stein, formerly of Los Alamitos, was 18 of 32 for 247 yards and a touchdown to lead Long Beach (6-0).

Brian Wilson was 19 of 33 for 229 yards and two touchdowns for Saddleback (3-2). He also threw three interceptions, including a key one late in the fourth quarter to stop a Gaucho drive at the Long Beach 11.

In Central Division games:

Fullerton 21, Riverside 16--Odyssei Wildridge’s one-yard touchdown run at the start of the fourth quarter proved to be the difference for Fullerton. Wildridge finished with 175 yards in 30 carries.

After Riverside took a 3-0 lead, kicker Eric Olafsson tied the score with his first of two 29-yard field goals. Fullerton (3-2, 1-0) then took a 9-3 lead, when Anthony Scott caught a 19-yard pass from Geoff Berg.

Lloyd Nolen caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Robert Farias and the Tigers (2-3, 1-1) tied the score, 9-9.

After Olafsson hit his second field goal, Riverside took a 16-12 lead on a 31-yard interception return by Jason Halliburton.

Wildridge’s touchdown gave Fullerton the lead with 5:33 left in the quarter. Farias was sacked in the end zone for a safety to make the score 21-16.

Palomar 21, Orange Coast 18--Orange Coast came close to ending a 12-game losing streak when Ivan Mercer caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Chad Collins with 4:22 left to play to cut the lead to three. But Palomar ran out the clock and extended the streak to 13.