Penalties Stop Golden West in Loss to Riverside

COSTA MESA — Two fourth-quarter penalties hurt Golden West more than 148 total penalty yards hurt Riverside in a Mission Conference Central Division game Saturday night at Orange Coast College.

Riverside held on to win, 24-17, after two potential fourth-quarter Golden West scoring drives never materialized because of critical penalties against the Rustlers.

A roughing-the-punter call against Golden West on a fourth-and-24 play with 8 minutes 29 seconds left in the game gave Riverside (1-3, 1-0 in division) an automatic first down and allowed the Tigers to run another 4:23 off the clock while holding a 24-17 lead.

Golden West (1-4, 0-2) was forced to punt after finally regaining possession, and hurt itself again with a third-down offsides infraction after stopping Riverside short of a first down at its 20-yard line with 2:32 left. The penalty gave the Tigers a first down and Riverside was able to run out the clock.

John Shipp threw for 184 yards and a touchdown for Golden West and Josh Klein added three field goals. Riverside scored 17 points in the second quarter to take a 17-6 halftime lead behind two touchdown passes by quarterback Scott Pearne.