THE COMMUNITY COLLEGES : Football : Battling to Remain Unbeaten : Fullerton, Saddleback Try to Do Unexpected in Division Showdown

Coaches in the Mission Conference Central Division started the football season with several opinions on which team would win the title. But the coaches did agree on one thing: No team would get through division play undefeated.

Either Fullerton or Saddleback will prove the coaches wrong tonight when the teams play at 7 at Saddleback.

Fullerton is 9-0 overall, 4-0 in the division. Saddleback is 8-1, 4-0.

The division title isn’t the only thing at stake tonight. Fullerton, 8-0 in conference play, could win the 16-team conference title outright with a victory. Saddleback is 7-1 and can earn a share of the title with Fullerton by winning.

Fullerton is ranked second in the nation behind Glendale Arizona in the J.C. Grid-Wire poll and is No. 1 in California. Saddleback is ranked 16th nationally, sixth in the state.

It should come as no surprise that Fullerton Coach Hal Sherbeck and Saddleback Coach Ken Swearingen call this the biggest game of the season.

“This is what you work so hard all season for,” Sherbeck said. “Both teams have had fine seasons. Now it just comes down to the team that is able to make the fewest mistakes.”

It’s also the first time the schools have met in a regular-season game. Saddleback defeated Fullerton in the 1985 PONY Bowl, but Fullerton won the 1982 and 1984 PONY Bowl games.

“It will be weird playing Fullerton in a game that’s not a bowl game,” Swearingen said. “But it will have the same intensity and importance as one.”

Fullerton has been impressive all season. The Hornets rolled past College of the Desert, 34-13, and Cerritos, 33-0, in the first 2 weeks, then defeated defending national champion El Camino, 38-36, in the third week to make them the team to beat the rest of the season.

In another Central Division game:

Rancho Santiago at Orange Coast, 7 p.m.--Rancho Santiago probably needs a victory to remain in the bowl picture. The Dons are a possible choice for the PONY Bowl, which most likely will expand to two games this year, according to game manager Keith Calkins.

The college has also been told by the Southern California bowl committee that it’s one of the three teams being considered to play Foothill Conference champion San Bernardino Valley. Glendale and Mt. San Antonio are the other teams in the running. Bowl bids will be issued after Saturday’s games.

OCC and Rancho Santiago will be trying to break losing streaks. Rancho Santiago went 6-0-1 in the first 7 games but was defeated by Fullerton, 24-17, and Saddleback, 9-7, in its last 2 games.

OCC has lost 5 in a row. OCC defeated San Diego City, 35-15, Oct. 9, for its last victory.