After suffering two straight overtime losses, the Warriors rebounded by winning their final regular season game, and will now make a playoff run for the State Championship.
EC will be on the road Saturday when it faces the Western State Conference Northern Division Champions, College of the Canyons Cougars, at 7 p.m. in Canyons Stadium for the Western State Bowl and for a chance to play at Regional.
“We knew we had to win or else the season would be over,” coach John Featherstone said. “We have had too good of a year to not be in the playoffs.”
The Cougars finished strong in their division by pulverizing the Moorpark Raiders last weekend 59-13.
The Cougars won their division with a 5-0 record, and remained perfect throughout the season with an overall record of 10-0.
Despite finishing second in the division with a 3-2 record, 8-2 overall, the Warriors have shown that they can play well when not at home, as they are undefeated on the road.
EC finished its regular season with a 5-0 away record, and has outscored its opponents 144-85.
“When we travel, we look at it as a business trip,” Featherstone said. “It’s business from the time we get on the bus, to the time we got off the bus. We go up there, punch in, punch out and go home with the victory.”
Against Santa Ana, the Warriors trailed at half time, but recovered in the second half when quarterback Don Poole’s screen pass to running back Brian Flowers ended in a 59-yard touchdown scramble to the end zone.
Flowers led the offense with 183 total purpose yards and three touchdowns, two receiving and one rushing.
Poole, despite throwing three interceptions, passed for three touchdowns and completed 12 of his 23 passes for 304 yards.
Defensive back Nate Ness helped the Warriors keep their perfect road record when he returned an interception for a 100-yard touchdown to help cap EC’s 36-17 win.
EC strong safety Reggie Doucet produced eight tackles, while linebacker Kasey Sitchler added 6.5 tackles and one interception to help maintain Santa Ana’s high scoring offense.
Ness’s ability to play solid defense has allowed him to break and tie several records this season.
Ness tied for the longest interception (100 yards) in Mission Conference history, led the Mission Conference with seven interceptions which tied him for seventh all-time in Mission Conference football, and has now broken EC’s single season record for most interceptions in a season under Featherstone’s staff.
“Nate has done it all year for us,” Featherstone said. “He’s one of those guys that has jumped out from the beginning…he always seems to come up with the big plays at the right time, and just has a nice football feel for the game.”
Before finding themselves in a win or go home situation against Santa Ana, the Warriors lost the last regular season home game against the Saddleback Gauchos, 37-34.
EC once again rallied during the fourth quarter, this time from a nine-point deficit.
The Warriors took a late three point lead with under two minutes to play.
The game was in EC’s favor, but the Gauchos offense was able to lead a drive through the Warrior defense, which ended in a game tying field goal sending the game into overtime.
The Warriors struck first in overtime with a field goal, but were not able to stop the Gauchos offense as they scored on an 8-yard touchdown run to end the game.
With the victory, Saddleback clinched a playoff birth by winning the Mission Conference National Division.
Despite having lost two home games in overtime, EC has proven that it can play well under high-pressure circumstances.
The team has made several come from behind rallies in the fourth quarter to win or send the game into overtime.
“What separates the good teams from the great teams are those that can play well under pressure,” Featherstone said. “In the two overtime games that we lost, we did not feel the pressure, we just didn’t win them.”
With the regular season coming to an end, the Warriors have a tough road ahead of them as their two losses have dropped them from the No.1 seed ranking to the No.5 seed.
The team went from having home field advantage during the playoffs, to more likely than not playing the rest of its games on the road.
The idea of falling in the rankings and battling against tougher football squads has been brought to the attention of the team, but with its latest victory, no signs of concern can be seen on the faces of the football team.
“We on it,” Ness said. “We made some adjustments along the way, but now we’re going into the playoffs confident, so it’s going to be hard for our opponents to stop us.”
