When the fourth quarter began Saturday night, Santa Barbara City College's squad trailed 6-5 in the turnovers-to-first downs department.

Hancock College's squad had 24 points off Vaqueros giveaways by then.

Santa Barbara hadn't beaten Hancock in a football game since 1992. The Vaqueros didn't come close Saturday night.

The Bulldogs rolled to a 37-7 Western State Conference Mountain Division win at Righetti High School's Warrior Stadium.

Hancock went to 2-0 in the WSC Mountain Division and 3-1 overall by winning their conference home opener. The Bulldogs have won three straight.

Santa Barbara is 0-2, 1-3.

Hancock takes on East Los Angeles College in a conference game at Righetti next Saturday. The start time has been tentatively moved up to 3 p.m. Hancock interim Athletic Director Tom Mott said afterward Saturday night that the school would issue an announcement Monday confirming the kickoff time.

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Six Bulldogs points off turnovers came directly Saturday evening.

Robert Slater hit Shawn Young in the backfield in the second quarter. The ball went straight to Hancock defensive back Ryan Head. Head raced 25 yards into the end zone, and Juan Velasco's extra point made it 10-0.

“I had the contain on the play, and I just went outside with the running back,” Head explained. “Robert Slater hit (Young), and after I grabbed the ball I just had it in mind to score one for the team.”

In the second quarter, defensive back Chad Simpson recovered Vaqueros quarterback Conner Rehage's fumble at the Santa Barbara 24. That set up Juan Velasco's 27-yard field goal. One play afterward, Hancock linebacker Sam Guilliume grabbed Rehage's pass at the Santa Barbara 42.

The fumble came on a disputed play. Santa Barbara said Rehage threw an incomplete forward pass in the backfield. Officials ruled it was a lateral.

Terrel Denson went in from the 8 eight plays later. A third-down false start against the Bulldogs that wasn't called helped Hancock on the drive. Casey Cathcart subsequently threw to Cirino for 12 yards to the 28.

Hancock led 20-0 at halftime. The Bulldogs had run 40 plays to Santa Barbara's 20 then. The Vaqueros had two first-half first downs.

“That's good to know,” said Hancock coach Kris Dutra. “In every other game, the other guys had more plays than we did. West Hills ran 90 plays,” in Hancock's 41-24 win two weeks ago.

“We really needed something like this. This was exactly the kind of game I wanted tonight. I have a great defensive staff, and they've tried to get the kdis to play faster. We're starting to do it. ”

Roundtree and Guillume, along with lineman Jelani Murray, led the charge in the Bulldogs' best defensive effort by far this season. The Vaqueros avoided the shutout when Rehage threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Dudley LaPorte with 3:12 to play.

“We need to be more consistent - there's always room for improvement,” said Roundtree. “We want to score every time we have the ball on offense. On defense, we want the three-and-outs.”

Still, “Our interior line plugged things up and let us come through,” and constantly disrupt the Vaqueros attack, said Roundtree.

Juan Velasco boosted the Bulldogs with 23 and 32-yard field goals. The former came after Santa Barbara shut down Hancock's opening drive after 69 yards.

Hancock's last score came when backup quarterback Gunner Jesperson threw a strike to George Henry III who caught the ball at the Vaqueros 30 and went in to complete a 74-yard scoring play.

Santa Barbara's defense - particularly free safety Randon Nunez with his open field tackling - actually gave a good account of itself. The unit's offense just never gave its defense a chance, with all those turnovers.

“I see now why their defense is toward the top of the conference,” said Dutra. “They're very small up front, but they're very good. They'll do well against other teams' (offenses).”

Cirino leads the WSC in five offensive categories. He ran for 111 yards on 26 carries, but the Vaqueros made him earn those yards. Tacklers usually miss Cirino in the open field. Santa Barbara's tacklers didn't miss.

The Vaqueros actually stopped Cirino inches short of the goal line in the third quarter - Cirino thought he was in. That dispute ultimately proved inconsequential.

You guessed it. Rehage fumble a snap in the end zone, then heaved an off-balance throw right to Hancock defensive back David Wolfe at the Santa Barbara 23.

Wolfe ran the ball to the Santa Barbara 3. Cirino went into the end zone the next play. There was no doubt this time - Cirino, behind Luke Conley's block, scored standing up.

Cal Poly 24, W. Oregon 17

SAN LUIS OBISPO - Jonathan Dally threw three touchdown passes as Cal Poly overcame a 10-0 deficit to hold off Division II foe Western Oregon.

Cal Poly (2-2) overcame a sluggish start that was compounded by three turnovers.

Dally finished 11-of-25 for 196 yards a week after setting a school record with six touchdown passes.

Cal Poly cut the lead to 10-7 after a 24-yard touchdown catch by Ramses Barden. Barden caught four passes for 121 yards.

The Mustangs took a 14-10 lead on Jono Grayson's 7-yard touchdown and began to pull away after an 18-yard touchdown pass to Tredale Tolver.

Tolver finished with six catches for 68 yards.

Men's soccer

Hancock 3, Ohlone 0

The Bulldogs (4-6-0) scored three second-half goals against the Fremont-based team in a non-conference game at Hancock.

Jesus Cortez scored in the 74th minute, Alexis Lomeli scored on a free kick in the 78th, and Freddy Cataneda tallied in the 89th. Lomeli and John Pranjic had assists.

Hancock plays its conference opener at 4 p.m. Tuesday at home against College of the Canyons.

Sept. 23, 2007