It's the last weekend in October and — surprise — both county community college football teams have put themselves in position to make a run at the Western State Conference title.

Moorpark (5-2) and Ventura (4-3) are 3-1 in the WSC's Pacific Division, a game behind 4-0 leaders Citrus and Glendale, with three weeks remaining.

The surprise is Ventura, which is riding its first three-game winning streak since 2004 entering tonight's showdown with No. 11 Citrus (5-2) at Larrabee Stadium.

The mighty Owls probably should be ranked higher, considering the 1975 state champions are the four-time defending WSC titlists from the former South Division. Their only two losses are to Bakersfield, the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, 24-7 on Oct. 13, and the forfeit loss of their 27-10 win against Orange Coast on Sept. 1.

"Obviously, we're underdogs," said Ventura assistant coach Ted Lawrence. "But we've put ourselves in a position to say that, If we win out, we can win a conference championship.'

"We've put ourselves in the position where that's in the realm of possibility. Technically."

But the Pirates know they have some serious work to do. Citrus is second in the state in scoring defense and is No. 3 in the state in total defense and passing defense.

"They play great team defense," said head coach Jon Mack of Citrus. "They lead the conference for a reason. Defensively, they jump off the film."

Citrus tends to load up the tackle box with eight players and rely on its sparkling secondary, the strength of its defense, to win one-on-one battles.

"You've got to take what they give you," said Mack.

That leaves tonight's upset bid in the hands of quarterback Lee Mondol, who has been up and down in his three starts.

Still, the offense has shown signs of coming around. Receiver Jordan Cameron set up one score last week with diving 33-yard reception that would fit in on any highlight reel.

Running backs Gabriel Bostic, Michael Lee and Semaj Washington are beginning to share the load productively. Bostic and Lee combined for nearly 160 yards rushing and two scores against L.A. Valley.

"We're really close to breaking out offensively," said Mack. "We're very young. It's a very complex system."

Moorpark, ranked No. 13 in Southern California, must overcome a week that started with fits and starts. With campus closed due to the local brushfires, the Raiders didn't practice Monday and only worked for an hour Tuesday.

"I'm very uncomfortable," said Moorpark coach Jim Bittner. "It was just chaos. We couldn't get anything done."

Moorpark visits local rival L.A. Pierce, which features a dangerous spread offense run by quarterback Alex Pettee.

"We're concerned with them, especially offensively," said Bittner. "They're a very good offensive team, throwing 40 or 50 times per game."

Moorpark must avoid looking past the Brahmas to next week's home showdown against Citrus.

"It's a crucial time right now," said Bittner. "We feel like we need to win the next three games to get into the playoffs.

"That's our goal. We can't stumble anywhere."