OCC position-by-position

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - If Friday’s scrimmage against a very big Santa Monica

City College means anything, look for Orange Coast College’s football

team to be enforcing the aggressiveness, rather than being the target of

it.

“It’s what we’re going to do to be successful,” Pirate Coach Mike

Taylor said. “This year, when you play us, we’re gonna take you on.”

Playing in one of the toughest community college conferences in the

nation, OCC will have to play smashmouth football with some of the best

in the state.

In fact, half of the Pirates’ opposition is in the Southern

California’s Top 10, including four from the Mission Conference Northern

Division.

“I think we’ll have a better chance to compete out there with those

big guys in our division,” Taylor said “As far as switching to the

Northern Divison last year, it really doesn’t make that much of a

difference. It’s just a matter of playing them at the beginning of the

year or at the end.”

With the season-opening game against Fullerton less than a week away,

Taylor and OCC’s sophomores will look to redeem themselves from last

year’s 34-24 loss to the Hornets, a game they felt they should have won.

“You sophomores remember that we felt we let that game slip out of our

fingertips,” Taylor told his players after Saturday’s scrimmage.

With the countdown underway to Saturday night, here’s a

position-by-position look at the 1999 Bucs.

Quarterbacks: Sophomore Jared Flint will be leading the Bucs’ offense

once again after an up and down rookie season.

Last year, Flint threw for over 1,500 yards to help lead OCC’s attack

and Taylor believes that with his improved arm strength and focus, he’s

due to have a tremendous season.

“After last year, Jared and the rest of the sophomores are determined

to prove what they’re made of,” Taylor said.

Flint was a redshirt transfer from the University of Indiana before

last season and was one of the top quarterbacks in Orange County while

playing at Irvine High.

In 10 games for OCC, Flint was 121 for 242 with nine touchdowns and

eight interceptions as a freshman.

Backing up Flint, will be OCC’s starting punter Eddie Johnson (Newport

Harbor High) and freshmen Richie Wessman and Tommy Karaffa.

Receivers: David Castleton and Tony Leone look to be on the other end

of a majority of Flint’s passes.

Castleton is a redshirt transfer from Brigham Young University after

four solid years at Mater Dei, where he helped the Monarchs to two

football national championships.

Leone played for OCC in 1997 and along with freshmen tight ends Ben

Fredrickson and Gerard Fane as well as running back Raymond Ohrel coming

out of the backfield, Flint will have an array of targets to choose from.

“The best thing about our receivers is that they all have excellent

hands and they do a great job of running sharp routs,” Taylor said.

Running backs: OCC has a solid blend of quickness, size and agility in

the backfield with the trio of Ohrel, sophomore James Dawkins and

freshman Stephan Boka.

Ohrel has increased his size and speed during the offseason and after

last year’s learning season, the Newport Harbor standout looks to lead

the Pirate ground game.

Ohrel rushed for 155 yards, had 266 yards receiving and 266 yards off

of kickoffs for the Pirates last year.

“Ray is not your prototype running back,” Taylor said. “Not only has

his speed increased, but he had the power and the ability to catch balls

out of the backfield. Our entire backfield (Flint, Ohrel, and Dawkins)

are back from last year.”

The Pirates also have some hole-producing fullbacks in the form of

sophomores Devon Griffin (5-11, 235) and Jimmie Banks (6-0, 247).

Offensive line: Perhaps one of Taylor’s biggest question marks coming

into the season was going to be the offensive line.

“Their biggest job out there is to try to protect Flint,” Taylor said.

“During the preseason, they’ve done some good sparring with the defense

and I think as a whole, they’re getting stronger.”

Leading the line is 6-4, 328-pound Jesse Chagolla. He is a transfer

from Cerritos College, so he knows what to expect at this level.

“He’s been in the wars and he can help our younger guys on what to

expect,” Taylor said.

Along with watching Flint’s back, the line will also be in charge of

opening up holes for the running backs and in Friday’s scrimmage, there

were holes big enough to drive a truck through.

Assisting Chagolla will be Joe Forkert, Yannick Boka, Apolonio

Rodriguez and Anthony Knutson. Those guys will be seeing a majority of

the playing time for the Bucs.

Defensive line: OCC’s lone returning all-conference player is

sophomore Kent Anderson, who was named second-team, All-Mission

Conference, Northern Division.

“We have to be aggressive on defense,” Taylor said. “Our front seven

has a chance to be very good. We haven’t been able to match up with other

teams very good in the past, but this year’s crew is very physical.”

A strong core of that front seven include Willis Manley, Vance Babin,

Dan Stringer and Johnny Garcia.

A tough break for the Pirates is the loss of Derek Fox, who is gone

for the season with a knee injury.

On the ends, 6-2, 315-pound Ronnie Price and 6-6, 260-pound Chris

Candlish (Estancia) look to be imposing figures for the Pirates up front.

“The success of our defense will start with our front line,” Taylor

said. “What we might lack in talent, we’ll make up by playing a tougher

brand of football.”

Linebackers: One of OCC’s top returning linebackers, Wallace Wong was

slowed by a knee injury during Friday’s scrimmage and his availability

for the season opener against Fullerton is uncertain.

Fellow sophomores Andrew Medley, Adin Cunningham and Doug McDaniel

look to provide the leadership, while freshmen Dustin Davis and Justin

Blackard round out the linebacking corps.

“McDaniel does a great job up the middle, while Davis looks to be a

strong weakside guy,” Taylor said.

Secondary: “There’s lots of leadership in the secondary and we need

that leadership out there,” Taylor said.

With three starters returning, OCC’s biggest chunk of experience is

the defensive backs.

The returning Pirate trio of Robert Pallotto, Bobby Johnson and Woody

Otis did an outstanding job in the scrimmage of preventing the big play

as well and enforcing some big-time hits to Santa Barbara City.

Taylor has also been impressed with the play of newcomer Johnnie

Peeples.

“He spent some time in the Marine Corps, and I bet he was a very good

Marine,” Taylor said. “He’s a good discipline guy and he gets his job

done without a lot of trash talking out there.”

Kicking: One of the brightest newcomers to OCC is kicker Eddie Johnson

from Newport Harbor.

At Harbor, Johnson was an all-state, all-county, all-district and

all-league selection with a 43.2 yards-per-kick average his senior

season.

In addition to his outstanding ability as a kicker, Johnson will also

back up Flint as the Pirates’ quarterback, so look for some interesting

things to happen on occasional fourth downs.

Returning for place-kicking duties is David Yonts.

“David’s been kicking the ball real well in practice,” Taylor said.

“In the scrimmage he was making them from 43 yards out. As far as extra

points go, I don’t remember him missing one last year.”