Football: Pirates solid in scrimmage

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - Something was very apparent during Friday’s football

scrimmage between Orange Coast College and visiting Santa Monica City.

The Pirates were tired of hitting themselves and they are looking for

a more physical type of football heading into the games that count.

“I liked the desire we had out there today,” Pirates Coach Mike Taylor

said. “The effort was definitely there. We still need to fine tune some

things and make some adjustments in certain spots, but overall, I was

very pleased.”

On the offensive side, running back Raymond Ohrel (Newport Harbor

High) had a rather explosive start to his sophomore season, taking the

first snap from scrimmage 70 yards for a touchdown.

“I was actually a little nervous about that,” Taylor said. “Any time

you break open a big play like that so early, you have a tendency to

think that it’s going to be an easy day. Fortunately, that wasn’t the

case with Ray today.”

Ohrel used his speed, agility and power to score his second touchdown

of the day, from 20 yards out.

“Games like this, we’re looking at making sure that the players line

up in the right spots and in the right positions,” Taylor said. “We also

wanted to get through the game without any injuries.”

On that note, sophomore defensive back Wallace Wong injured his knee

early in the game was did not play the rest of the day. His status is

uncertain.

After a shaky first series of plays, sophomore quarterback Jared Flint

showed tremendous athletic ability in the second series and appears to be

on the verge of putting up some big numbers for the Bucs.

“Jared has a tendency to force things when he starts to feel pressure,

instead of just letting things happen and taking what the defense gives,”

Taylor said. “He looked much better and more comfortable in the second

half.”

Sophomore place kicker David Yonts looked solid during the field-goal

drills, hitting one from 43 yards out for the Bucs.

“His legs have gotten a lot stronger in the off-season,” Taylor said.

“He’s been working hard on that.”

Despite the optimism, Taylor knows there are some areas the Pirates

need to work on.

“We need to spend some extra time working with our special teams,”

Taylor said. “We’re still a very young team and there will be mistakes

made out there.”

On the defensive side, the Pirates were up to the task in taking on

one of the bigger teams they’re going to face this season.

“Like I’ve said before, we have some great athletes out there,” Taylor

said. “Because of that, we’re going to play a more physical style of

defense. I was very excited about the physicalness of our defense.”

Making some of those physical plays were freshman linebacker Martin

Janzon and defensive back Robert Pollotto, among others.

The first game that counts will be Saturday night at 7, when the

Pirates travel to Fullerton to take on the Hornets.

The Bucs’ first home game will be Saturday, Sept. 18 against

Saddleback.