By throwing for 408 yards in Saturday's dramatic, come-from-behind 24-21 win at Chaffey, Moorpark College quarterback Zach Shultis joined his brother Ian as the only two Raiders quarterbacks to throw for 400 yards in a game.

"It's an honor to be able to join him," said Shultis, who backed up his younger brother last season. "It's pretty cool."

By throwing for 432 yards against Santa Ana last year, Ian Shultis, who is now at Massachusetts, broke Farhaad Azimi's 10-year-old school record of 338 yards.

A career backup at Thousand Oaks High and Moorpark College, Zach has blossomed as a starter this year, winning six straight starts. Despite sharing snaps with sophomore Dalton Botts, he is No. 6 in Southern California in passing at 216.5 yards per game.

"I knew once I got the opportunity that I'd be able to prove myself," said Shultis. "Week in and week out, we've played as a team and come out victorious."

With two games to play, Moorpark (6-2, 3-0) is tied atop the Western Conference with Los Angeles Harbor.

"You can't ask for anything more than to be able to control your own destiny with two games to go," said Shultis. "We know that if we do our part, we're going to be conference champions."

The plane touched down Saturday night and Ian Shultis' phone lit up like a scoreboard.

It confirmed what he already knew, that his brother would take care of the Moorpark College football team's school-record 13-game losing streak.

"I knew it was going to happen," said Shultis. "With that offense, I knew Zach was going to get it done. No one knows just how hard Moorpark is working right now."

Shultis, who set several school passing records during Moorpark's 0-10 season a year ago, transferred to the University of Massachusetts in August. He was there, in uniform before friends and family, as the FCS-powerhouse Minutemen nearly knocked off Michigan at the "Big House" Saturday.

A memorable Saturday was capped off hours later by the news that the Raiders were finally quarterbacked to victory by a Shultis.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," said Shultis. "It really does make me look back on last year and make me feel a lot better about it."

Down 19-18 with 3:29 to play, Zach Shultis drove Moorpark 58 yards in 10 plays, then kicked the game-winning 21-yard field goal with three seconds to spare. In his second college start, the Thousand Oaks High product completed 28-of-41 passing for 216 yards and three touchdowns.

"Zach's always been that second guy you could always fall back on and he's never really been needed," said Shultis. "It finally came to him and he delivered. I'm so proud of him. I knew he could do it."

Came across this highlight package of Moorpark College quarterfinal Ian Shultis' record-breaking freshman season:

With the most difficult football season in school history finally in the rearview mirror, the Moorpark College football team nears a fork in the road.

Coming off the first 0-10 season in school history, the Raiders can elect to remain in Southern California Football Association's top tier, the National Division, over the next two seasons or choose to step down into the lower tier, the American Division.

Schools have until Nov. 30 to make their appeal to the SCFA's competition committee, according to commissioner Jim Sartoris. Moorpark coach Jim Bittner said he would meet with athletic director Howard Davis next week to discuss the future of the program.

Asked his opinion, Bittner gave arguments for both sides before saying, "If I have the final word, we're going to stay (in the top tier) and fight."

"Recruiting is going to be a tough, tough thing (after going 0-10)," said Bittner. "But I sort of like staying where we are because at least I know the opponents.

"We have to make a quick decision."

The lower tier may seem perfect for a program on a school-record 11-game losing streak, but Moorpark, behind record-breaking quarterback Ian Shultis, was competitive to the bitter end of a winless season, tied 20-20 in the fourth quarter of losses at Pasadena City and Glendale and taking possession twice in the final four minutes of Saturday's Citrus Cup loss to Ventura with a chance to beat rival Ventura.

Plus, the talented freshmen who weathered the 2009 season would give the Raiders a fighting chance to win in 2010 as hungry, battle-hardened sophomores.

"Personally, I feel like we can compete against the teams that we played this year," said Shultis, the Thousand Oaks High product who broke nearly every Moorpark passing mark as a freshman. "I know our record shows that we didn't have the best season, but... I want to play the best teams out there and I want to stay in this league."

The SCFA competition committee reviews the schools' appeals and makes a reconferencing recommendation to Sartoris, who will make a final decision early next year.

"We just have to see who applies to move either up and down," said Sartoris. "Besides records, the competition committee is going to look at a lot of things, like the history of the program, the number of people on rosters, the number of full-time coaches

"There's a lot of inequities between our colleges and the main goal is to create competitive balance."

With that in mind, the coaches association disbanded the traditional conferences to create the two-tiered SCFA, modeled on the three-tiered structure in Northern California, before the 2008 season. This is its first round of reconferencing.

Moorpark has won 12 Western State Conference titles, made 17 postseason appearances and is just two years removed from perhaps the best two-year period in school history, when the Raiders won 19 games and made consecutive appearances in the Southern California regional playoffs.

"They have a great tradition there," said Sartoris.

Moorpark already decided to suspend its tradition-laden wresting program in August. If Moorpark did step down into the American Division, it would look like a match for the Pacific Division, which features local rivals Los Angeles Pierce and Valley. Pierce went on to win the division this fall after beating Moorpark for the first time in 25 years, 37-20, Sept. 5.

Moorpark College freshman quarterback Ian Shultis was named SFCA Northern Conference Offensive Player of the Week after his record-setting performance in Saturday's 51-36 loss at Santa Ana.

The 6-foot-2 Thousand Oaks High product set school records for passing yardage and touchdowns by completing 25 of 38 passes with 432 yards and five touchdowns.

The net result of a wild, 50-point fourth quarter (27 points for Moorpark, 23 for Santa Ana) was Moorpark's fourth loss, but also a record passing day.

The Raiders passed for 461 yards, with quarterback Ian Shultis throwing for 432, setting team and individual marks for passing yardage. Shultis finished 25 of 38, with Justin Bradley catching 12 passes for 201 yards and a TD and Chris Gant collecting nine passes for 190 yards and three TDs.

Thanks to David Lassen for a great job with the updates.

Shultis just threw his fifth touchdown pass, a 15-yarder to Chris Gant. It's 51-36 Santa Ana with 2:58 remaining.

The fourth quarter has gotten wild, with six touchdowns and a defensive conversion (by Santa Ana) which leads 51-29 with four minutes remaining.

Unofficially, Moorpark quarterback Ian Shultis is 22 of 33 for 398 yards and four touchdowns, which according to the Moorpark website would be a school record for passing yardage.

Down 9-7 to Moorpark, Santa Ana took a 21-9 halftime lead on two Jordan Thomas TD passes -- 7 yards to Andrew Zamora and 15 yards to Johnny Privitelli.

The first came two plays after Moorpark lost a fumble on its own 7-yard line and the second came with 31.1 seconds left in the first half.

Moorpark has been wholly unable to establish a ground game (18 rushes, minus 8 yards) but has 136 yards from QB Ian Shultis, who is 9 of 16 with a touchdown pass to WR Justin Bradley.

For Santa Ana, Thomas is 11 of 20 for 149 yards. Eric Pesanta (eight carries, 43 yards) leads the rushing game.

The Moorpark College football team rallied to lead 9-7 on a safety and a 17-yard TD pass from Ian Shultis to Justin Bradley with 12:30 left in the first half.

It is the Raiders' first lead since Jonathan Mesa's 1-yard run with 17 seconds left in the first half of the opening game against Los Angeles Pierce.

Moorpark had gone two hours, 37 minutes and 30 seconds without the lead.