JC Football Preview: Golden West vs. Grossmont

Golden West (4-4, 3-0) vs. Grossmont (4-4, 0-3)

When/where: 7 p.m. Saturday at Orange Coast College

Key Rustlers: So. WR Zimari Manning; So. QB Adam Vance; So. MLB Joseph Inda; So. CB Kory Garcia.

Key Grififns: Fr. QB Brad Cagle; So. WR Adrian Tolbert; So. WR Jabril Clewis: So. DB Jordan Ellis.

Breakdown: The Rustlers, ranked No. 19 in the state and No. 10 in Southern California, are in sole possession of first place in the Southern Conference and have won three straight…Grossmont, No. 22 in the state and No. 8 in SoCal, has lost three in a row and four of its last five…The Rustlers, who rank No. 4 in the 37-school Southern California Football Assn. in scoring defense (18.9 per game) will be without leading tackler Manase Time, a freshman strong safety who is out with a knee injury…The Rustlers will welcome back freshman linebacker Hunter Margain, who missed three games with an injury…Golden West has thrown just three interceptions in 237 passing attempts and is plus-seven in turnover ratio…Cagle, who is 111 for 229 for 1,597 yards and 14 TDs, has thrown seven of Griffins’ 16 interceptions…Grossmont is minus-three in turnover ratio…Tolbert has 31 catches for 655 yards and leads the conference in receiving yards per game (93.6) and receiving TDs (10). He averages 21.1 yards per catch, just behind Clewis (21.2)…Manning, a 2014 All-American who had two catches for one TD in the first five games (knee injury), has 19 catches for six TDs in the last four games, including two TDs in both of the last two contests…Ellis has five interceptions, while Garcia has four...Golden West can clinch at least a share of the conference crown with a win, heading into the regular-season finale against Fullerton (7-1, 3-1), ranked No. 5 in the state.

— Barry Faulkner