Looking good

Tony Altobelli

I know, I know.....

I know it’s only the first game of the season and I know that

Fullerton College is not Palomar or El Camino, but Orange Coast College’s

football team looked rather impressive in Saturday’s 31-24 win over the

Hornets.

The Pirates produced some impressive numbers that ranked at or near

the top of many categories in the dominant Mission Conference.

Jared Flint showed everyone what he can really do, completing 23 of 37

passes for 361 yards and two touchdowns.

Flint’s 23 completions and 361 yards led all Mission Conference’s

quarterbacks, including El Camino’s Robert Hodge’s 22 for 35 for 345 yard

performance against defensively-impaired Golden West College.

To be fair to Hodge, his throwing stats might have been more

impressive if El Camino didn’t also average nearly seven yards per carry

on the ground for nearly 200 yards in the Warriors’ 35-14 drubbing of the

Rustlers.

It’s so easy to get caught up in offense, especially since most games

produce some rather high point totals.

But just as impressive as OCC’s offense was, the Bucs’ defense made

just as many big plays, coming up with the big hit or big stop, just when

it needed it most.

Coach Mike Taylor predicted his club would play more physically than

last season and so far, he’s right.

OCC’s next big test comes against a fired-up Saddleback group that

shocked Southern California with a 26-23 win over heavily-favored Mt. San

Antonio, which dropped out of the southland’s Top 10.

Another factor in the Pirates’ win that might be overlooked, was field

position.

Fullerton was constantly pinned back, which was a testament to

freshman punter Eddie Johnson and his 44 yards-per-kick average, which

also leads the conference.

For those who still care about Golden West, it won’t get much easier

for the Pirates’ former rivals, as the Rustlers host a nationally-ranked

Long Beach squad that narrowly escaped with a 21-13 win over Riverside

Saturday, despite being outrushed and outthrown by the Tigers.

Unless Flint breaks school records against Saddleback in the Pirates’

home opener, look for Long Beach City’s Chad Munson to lead the

conference after next week’s games.

I make this bold prediction following last year’s 75-7 embarrassment

between the Vikings and Rustlers. Look for more of the same this year.

You can’t trust anybody anymore....

Just ask Pirates’ sophomore women’s cross country standout Zoila Gomez.

She has a 50-meter lead in the San Diego Mesa Cross Country Invitational,

when suddenly, something was wrong. She was all alone.

Apparently Gomez was directed in the wrong direction!

“I think that somebody on the route sent her the wrong way,” Coach

John Goldman said. “She probably went about 100 yards the wrong way,

before she was turned around.”

By the time she realized she was creating her own course, Gomez

dropped back to fifth place.

Fortunately, the 1998 OCC Female Athlete of the Year retraced her

steps, got back on course and still came out on top, winning the race two

seconds ahead of the pack.

I think Bugs Bunny said it best when he said, “I knew I should have

taken that left turn at Albuquerque.”

Equally remarkable was men’s cross country runner Juan Sanchez.

Approximately one mile into his four-mile run, Sanchez got stepped on,

causing him to lose one of his shoes.

In non-running terms, he got a flat tire.

Instead of wasting a bunch of time putting his shoe back on, Sanchez

decided to run the final three miles with only one shoe!

“When someone gets stepped on, that person has to decide to either

stop and put his shoe on or just run without it,” Goldman said. “He

showed a lot of guts out there.”

Sanchez, an all-state selection last year for the Pirates, ran through

various terrains on the course, concrete, asphalt, grass and even dirt,

all with one foot more ventilated than the other.

“I was worried that he was going to injure himself on a race that

wasn’t all that important as far as the overall season is concerned,”

Goldman said. “He had a few blisters and bruises, but that was it. That’s

why he’s an all-state runner for us; because he’s such a competitor.”