OCC football: OCC’s strength found on line

Steve Virgen

The sun was fading and the lights at LeBard Stadium began to shine.

Night was approaching on Tuesday’s practice and it seemed as if the hits

among the Orange Coast College football team became harder, especially

with the offensive line.

With their first bowl game in six years coming Saturday at Cerritos

College, the Pirates’ training has intensified as offensive lineman

crashed into defensive lineman, head to head, grunts and shoves.

The Bucs were in need of a break or at least a light moment to set off

the serious mood. And no one could provide that better than Gary

Lewellyn, the 31-year old offensive tackle who has better timing than

Jerry Seinfeld.

Lewellyn, a deputy in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, went

head up with defensive tackle Vance Babin and Babin lost his footing and

fell to the ground. Lewellyn plopped on top of him and began to smack

Babin’s behind as if he were a horse. The players broke into laughter as

Lewellyn let out a “Yee haw!”

Yet, not more than a minute later Lewellyn and his mates, Adam Fisher,

Anthony Knutson, Lance Chavez, Brent Larkin, Donnie Garcia and Ethello

Hall were back at it with no grins showing.

OCC’s season, that began 0-3 with one touchdown in those losses, has

turned around mostly because of its offensive line, which averages 284

pounds tackle to tackle.

When the season became dark, the Pirates’ offensive line came together

and turned on the lights ... on the scoreboard, that is.

After the horrendous start, OCC’s offense scored 110 points over the

next three weeks and set a school record for most offensive yards in a

game (628) in the 55-21 win over rival Golden West.

“We got a lot of heart,” Lewellyn said. “When we were 0-3 and pretty

much everyone buried us dead, we fought hard.”

Though the emergence of quarterback Nick Higgs has been the most

obvious reason for the improvement in the offense, Higgs sends the credit

toward the experienced offensive line which features four sophomores --

Fisher, Lewellyn, Knutson and Chavez -- and one freshman in Larkin.

“I have a great degree of trust in them,” Higgs said. “It was hard at

the beginning to relate to different people of different ages. I was

trying to figure out a way to relate, to motivate and to lead them. It

started to happen when I got to know their personalities.”

And those personalities can be described as bizarre, funny and

full of integrity.

Lewellyn, who earned All-Mission Conference Central Division honors,

brings experience and maturity, but he can also joke with everyone. One

of his affectionate nicknames is “Luscious Lew,” from his days of being

nice to the ladies, he said. He has even walked around campus telling

people he is the real Nick Higgs.

Fisher also brings a great deal of experience. He transferred to OCC

after playing two years at UC Berkeley. He said he went through three

offensive line coaches and was frustrated there.

This season, Fisher, who another all-conference performer, actually

scored a touchdown. He scooped Pirates’ kicker Rob Pate’s blocked field

goal and ran it in for a touchdown which proved crucial in the 21-17 win

over Palomar.

“I was just happy we won the game,” Fisher said. “That game won us the

championship.”

At OCC, Fisher has found stability in his teammates and offensive line

coaches Kurt Clemens and Doug Smith.

Clemens is in his seventh year at OCC and coached at Golden West when

Lewellyn played there for a year. He also played at OCC in 1969 and 1970.

Smith is a 14-year NFL veteran who earned six trips to the Pro Bowl

center for the Rams. He coached at USC with John Robinson.

The improvement of OCC’s offensive line has Smith excited for this

weekend.

“We have a nice variety of talent levels and commitment levels,” he

said. “The guys get along very well. They definitely need to be

compatible. From week one until now, they are a much different group.”

The improvement also comes from Chavez and Knutson who are the only

starters who played for OCC last year.

Knutson made the all-conference team for the second straight year,

last year as a guard and this season as a tackle.

Chavez, a Newport Harbor High product, plays center and is the

lightest lineman. Both have enjoyed the changes from last year to this

season.

“We get along really well,” Chavez said. “We get out there and joke

around. And we know when it’s time to get serious. We have a real good

combination.”

Larkin has filled in for Garcia, who was also a part of the offense’s

turnaround. Garcia was a starter for the first five games, until a severe

ankle sprain put him out. He is just now returning and he may play in the

Strawberry Bowl.

Larkin played at Los Alamitos when it won the Sunset League last year.

Hall transferred from Santa Ana and is a great prospect to transfer to

a four-year school because of his athleticism, Clemens said.

The tight ends Ben Fredrickson and Gerard Fane have also been

important on the offensive line. Fredrickson also earned all-conference

laurels as a unanimous first-teamer.

The Pirates offense runs a great deal of double-tight formations,

Clemens said. The tight ends have extra assignments with their receiver

routes, but they also have the offensive-line mentality.

“We’re not that flashy but we get the job done,” Fane said. “We’ve

been consistent this season and that’s all you want from an O-line.”

The offensive linemen’s motto this season has been “time to go to

work” in unison with their blue-collar work ethic. They don’t mind

working behind the scenes.

“I don’t mind being a no-namer,” Fisher said. “The other team is not

going to be able to target you. We’re not highlighted and they don’t know

how good we are and how well we function as a unit.”