Story and photos by Ted Apodaca

In an early season match up of top ranked teams, the Golden West College football team made a statement about their potential with a 42-35 win over No. 2 ranked Riverside City College (1-1) on Saturday at Rustler Stadium. Golden West (2-0) went into the game as the No. 7 ranked team in the state rankings after the first week.

Golden West struggled early, falling behind, 21-7 in the second quarter. But the Rustlers were able to clean things up and score four unanswered touchdowns to take a 35-21 lead and gain control of the game.

Freshman quarterback Noa Banua (FV and Marina HS) overcame two interceptions to finish with 229 passing yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 59 yards and a touchdown. The Rustlers compiled 238 total rushing yards with sophomore running back Aaron Mitchell leading the way with 72 yards and Kendric Thompson with 69 yards. Both had touchdown runs as well. 

“We feel we have a good offense, and that we can move the ball and put some points up,” GWC Head Coach, Nick Mitchell said. “So we just figured … kind of had to wait, you know, to kind of get things going a little bit.”

The Rustler defense helped spark the offense when Nigel Mills (Paramount High) intercepted a pass to set GWC up in Riverside territory. The Rustlers converted two third downs on the 43-yard drive before Banua scored on a 17-yard run to cut the lead to 21-14 with 2:42 left in the second quarter. 

The Rustler defense again held the Tigers to 3 plays and a punt to get the ball back with 1:46 left. Banua had passes of 31 and 22 yards to Will McKissick (St. John Bosco High) and then another 22 yarder to Ayden Goodwin to move the ball to the Tiger six yard line. Thompson would then bull his way to the end zone to tie the game at 21-21 going into the half.

Riverside opened the third quarter with the ball and drove to the Golden West 44 yard line. But sophomore linebacker Brandon Soleau (Huntington Beach High) forced a fumble that was recovered by sophomore linebacker Kruz Wheeler, who returned it to the Tiger seven yard line. After a short run, Banua found McKissick for a five-yard touchdown pass to give the Rustlers a 28-21 lead. 

The GWC defense would force another punt on the ensuing Tiger possession. This time, the Rustlers would go on a 12-play, 65-yard drive that ended with Banua finding Schmidt for an 18-yard touchdown to give the Rustlers a 35-21 lead. The Tigers would fight back with a touchdown, but the Rustlers answered. 

The GWC defense set them up again, forcing a turnover on downs with a big tackle for loss at the Riverside eight yard line. This time Banua found Alicea for a seven-yard touchdown to extend the lead back to two touchdowns, at 42-28. The Tigers would cut the lead to 42-35 before the Rustler defense closed out the game.

Mitchell said that the Rustlers are playing a lot of freshmen due to injuries or not a lot of depth on the roster. And he said that has also forced them to play some players in positions that they are not familiar with playing. Despite some mistakes, Mitchell said the team is adjusting well. He also noted that RCC, although rebuilding a bit from recent state-championship quality teams, is still very good. So getting a win over the Tigers says a lot about his squad.

“That gives a tremendous amount of confidence to a young team, that’s for sure, and that’s what we preach, ‘next man up’ right,” Mitchell said. 

Despite the defenses’ early struggles, Rogers said he felt the team played better against RCC than it did in the first game. He said the team is gelling and he expects the improvement to continue. 

“The jump from the first game to this game, it’s a big jump, we made way bigger plays this week, executed our assignments better, so we’re expecting the same big jump next week,” Rogers said. 

The Rustlers will host Allan Hancock on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Rustler Stadium.