Saddleback Chooses Bowl in Sacramento

Saddleback, despite being the No. 1-ranked community college football team in the state, will travel to No. 2 Sacramento to play in the Shrine Capitol Bowl Nov. 30, Athletic Director Keith Calkins said Wednesday.

Saddleback (10-0) is ranked second in the nation and Sacramento (8-1) third. It was decided that this was the best matchup possible at a meeting of bowl game managers Wednesday in Sacramento. The official invitations will be extended Saturday.

Saddleback, which has won 16 in a row, has completed its regular season and Sacramento finishes by hosting American Riverside (3-6) Saturday. Even if Sacramento is upset, the matchup will remain.

Saddleback made the decision to play in Sacramento to have the best possible chance to win a national title. Blinn (Texas), which is the top-ranked team in the nation, plays No. 4 Coffeyville (Kan.) Dec. 7 in the Mineral Water Bowl.

Saddleback shared a national championship with Snow (Utah) in 1985 and won it again in 1992.

Saddleback Coach Bill Cunerty hoped to play locally but Sacramento was committed to its bowl game because this is its first year.

“We don’t want to destroy their game,” Calkins said. “If you get the Shriners behind it, you can have a big game.”

The bowl game that suffers this year is the Simple Green Orange County Bowl, which is Dec. 7 at Orange Coast College.

With Saddleback out of the picture and no other Orange County team able to finish with better than a 6-4 record, the tentative matchup is Grossmont (8-1) vs. El Camino (6-3), according to game manager Doug Bennett.

“It’s not a great deal,” Bennett said, “but it was the best game we could get.”

In some other tentative Dec. 7 games: Bakersfield (8-1) hosts the winner of Long Beach (7-2) and Mt. San Antonio (7-2) in the Potato Bowl and Cerritos (7-2) hosts Moorpark (7-2) in the Strawberry Bowl. Los Angeles Valley (8-1) and Hancock (8-1) are set to meet in the No Fear Bowl at a site to be determined.