Photo by Bobby R. Hester
Photo by Bobby R. Hester

Riverside and Fullerton to Battle for Southern California Championship

The Riverside City College football team successfully defeated the fourth-seeded Ventura College Pirates in the opening round of the Southern California Football Association (SCFA) and punched their ticket to their sixth-consecutive SCFA Championship game. Riverside will host the third-seeded Fullerton College Hornets (10-1) on Saturday, December 3 at 12 p.m. at San Bernardino Valley College.

Tickets · Live Stream · Live Stats · Directions

Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. and tickets can be purchased online through the CCCAA's Hometown Ticketing box office. There will still be an option to purchase tickets at the booth the day of the event, but we highly encourage all patrons to purchase tickets ahead of time. Tickets will be $12 for general admission and $8 for students with a valid ID, children under 11 years old and senior citizens 60 years of age and older.

The game will be live-streamed free of charge compliments of RiversideTV. The game will be played at San Bernardino Valley College in San Bernardino, CA. Please refer to all hyper links above for further information. 

The Hornets upset the second-Seeded Mt. San Antonio College Mounties, 45-41, last Saturday to reach the championship game for the first time since 2017. It is familiar territory for the Tigers as they reach their sixth-straight under Head Coach Tom Craft.

Riverside and Fullerton last met in the championship bout in 2017 where the Hornets boat raced the Tigers, 75-16, leading to a state title. They would later forfeit the title after committing multiple CCCAA violations.

It is no surprise that the Tiger's top weapons reside not only in the same area code, but in the same household. The come in the form of quarterback Jake Retzlaff and wide receiver Reggie Retzlaff.

The brothers continue to put up video game numbers against any defense they face. J. Retzlaff completed another impressive game against Ventura by going 27-for-37 leading to 402 passing yards and six touchdowns. Two of them found the hands of R. Retzlaff after he hauled in three grabs for 27 yards.

J. Retzlaff not only leads the state of California with 4,172 passing yards, 379.3 passing yards-per-game and 42 touchdowns, but he leads the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) top performers by a landslide. To be more specifically, he has accumulated 1,442 more passing yards, 107 more passing yards-per-game and 18 more touchdown passes than the national leader.

His main target, R. Retzlaff, has proven to be the best wide out in the nation when compared to the field. He is the only receiver in the nation to surpass the 1,000 yards receiving mark by totaling 1,177 yards, average over 100 yards-per-game with 107 yards-per-game and has tallied 18 total touchdowns. He has seven more touchdown than the national leader.

On the defensive side, sophomore defensive back Demarco Moorer is nearing an RCC record as he currently has nine interceptions. He is one pick away from tying Shawn Dorseau's 10 interceptions recorded in 2019. He recorded two multi-interception games with three against Long Beach in September and two against Canyons in October. He ranks third on the team with 46 total tackles to go along with four pass break ups, and one fumble recovery.

Sophomore linebackers Arturo Orozco and Gage Summers anchor the defense as they combine for over 100 tackles and 4.5 sacks. Orozco leads with 56 tackles and 3.5 sacks, while Summers follows with 54 stops and one sack.

Sophomore wide receiver Roshawn Lacy experienced one of his strongest games to date against Ventura as he landed in the end zone three times on a five catch, 53 yards day. Sophomore Bryce Strong led the backfield with 20 carries for 150 yards. He added three grabs for 90 yards as well.