Quarterback Andre Scott returns to lead Saddleback’s offense in 2025. (PHOTOS: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).
It was a memorable first season for Saddleback High School quarterback Andre Scott, who helped lead the Roadrunners to their first league football championship since 1986 and first CIF playoff appearance since 2015.
In his junior season, the Magnolia transfer was a dual threat, completing 63 of 133 passes for 1,115 yards and seven touchdowns and rushing for 427 yards on 69 carries and 10 touchdowns to earn first team all-Zeta League honors.
To see additional photos, click on the first picture:
PHOTO: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone
This season, Saddleback Coach Rob Thompson is looking for big numbers from the 6-2 Scott, who said he plans to step into a leadership role on the team in his senior year.
“I’m excited for week one, just to get better one week at a time,” Scott said during an interview after the Zeta League media day.
“I feel like I’m more mature now and I feel our team has come together better now that I’ve been around two years, they’ve grown around me to like me more than they did last year.
“This year, my goals are exceeding even higher compared to last year because I just came in wanting to win and change the program around. This year, I want to win and I want to be able to set high goals for myself, like breaking the records for the passing yards.”
Thompson said Saddleback, which was 6-5 last season, will need another big year from Scott to be successful. The Roadrunners season begins Friday with a non-league home game vs. Santiago.
“He’s very athletic and has good qualities,” Thompson said. “He’s strong on fundamental skills, he’s consistent with his performance.”
Thompson said Scott is adept a firing his teammates up “with a positive attitude, which means he elevates everyone else to his level out on the field. He’s the coach on the field pretty much and he handles pressure well too. He’s a good runner, he can run with the best of them, he can run as good as any other quarterback in our county.”
Scott said his goals are simple. His 2024 season ended abruptly when he was assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty for what officials deemed an excessive celebration in the second quarter of the last regular season game vs. his former team, Magnolia. Scott was ruled out of the second half and Saddleback’s opening round CIF playoff game the following week.
“I expect to show by example, better than I did last year mainly because I got ejected in week 10 against Magnolia because I used bad actions, stupid actions that I learned from,” Scott said.
La Quinta won the CIF Division 14 playoff game 21-20.
Scott acknowledged the penalty and the consequences when he spoke at the media event.
“I wish I could have played that game, it would have been a whole different score,” he said later in the interview with OC Sports Zone.
“I was having an amazing season until I made a bad decision,” he said. “Some of my best games I had were actually the games that we lost because I felt like I stepped up the most when we were losing and showed my team that I’m a real leader on and off the field ….. “
Thompson said he and the coaches have talked to Scott about the penalty and have been reassured that he learned from what happened last year and it won’t happen again.
“That was a huge disappointment obviously, from what he did to be suspended for the entire half of one game and then for another game didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but obviously it happened and he had to take accountability for it and he promised me it would never happen again,” Thompson said.
Scott said the coaches’ message has been: “accept it and just grow from it and become a better person.”
Scott, who hopes to play on the college level, said preparations for the season have been going well.
“Practices have been amazing,” Scott said. “I’m just trying to get better my senior year. We have a lot of leadership on each side of the ball so there is a lot of communication going on and chemistry being built.”
Thompson and the Roadrunners are counting on a big season from the senior.
“If he doesn’t have a big year, then we won’t have a big year,” Thompson said. “We almost won the playoff game last year without him, but this year we have a tougher schedule so we need him for every game.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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