JC Football Preview: Golden West vs. Fullerton

Golden West (4-5, 3-1) vs. Fullerton (8-1, 3-1)

When/where: 1 p.m. Saturday at Yorba Linda High

Key Rustlers: So. WR Zimari Manning; So. LB Trevin Kahunanui; So. QB Adam Vance; So. RB Gabe Ford.

Key Hornets: Fr. QB Jordan Hoy; Fr. LB Justin Parcells; So. RB Phillip Butler; Fr. WR Markus Grossman.

Breakdown: The Hornets, ranked No. 2 in the state and Southern California, and the Rustlers, ranked No. 21 in the state and No. 11 in SoCal, enter in a three-way tie for first place in the Southern Conference…Saturday’s winner earns at least a share of the conference title, for which Saddleback (8-1, 3-1) would also stake a claim if it can defeat Orange Coast at home Saturday night…Hoy, a bounce-back from Montana State, is one of the most dynamic players in the state, having passed for 2,385 yards and 28 touchdowns and rushed for 631 yards and seven TDs…Hoy has been named Southern California Football Assn. Offensive Player of the Week five times…Fullerton leads the state with 52 points per game, including outputs of 79, 63, 62, 59 and 56 (twice)…The Hornets’ 515.6 yards per game rank No. 2 in the state and they are No. 4 in scoring defense (20.4 per game)…Parcells has a team-best 44 tackles, including a conference-leading 7.5 sacks…The Hornets are plus-one in turnover ratio, while Golden West is plus-three…The Rustlers suffered their first conference loss last week, a 40-28 setback at home against Grossmont…Vance, who has thrown for 1,498 yards and 16 TDs, threw four interceptions last week, one more than he had previously this season…White has 42 catches for 466 yards and three TDs, while Manning, who missed nearly three full games with a knee injury, has nine receiving TDs among his 28 catches for 363 yards…Golden West is tied for fifth in scoring defense in SoCal (21.2 per game)…The Rustlers rank No. 29 in SoCal in offense (309 yards per game)...Thomas was the Southern California Football Assn. Offensive Player of the Week last week after scoring three TDs and compiling 150 yards rushing and receiving in a 35-14 win at OCC…Golden West defeated Fullerton, 24-17, last season, ending an eight-game losing streak to the Hornets that dated back to 2005.

— Barry Faulkner