Community college football: Bucs snap four-game slump

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - To end its four-game losing streak, the Orange Coast

College football team had to reach for Pirate Pride in its Mission

Conference Central division game against visiting Santa Ana Saturday.

The Pirates used a viable rushing attack, a bend-but-don’t-break

defense and an obvious display of pride to collectively breathe a sigh of

relief with a 20-10 victory over the Dons.

With the Bucs (3-5, 1-3 in the Central division) and the Dons (3-5,

1-3) out of conference title or postseason contention, the source of

reward for victory was pride.

“Just pride,” Bucs’ quarterback Nick Higgs said of his team’s

motivation. “You never want to lose. Last week was just the most hopeless

feeling. We just wanted to come back and improve. We know we can beat

teams.”

OCC tailback Niles Mittasch stole the spotlight from the No. 2 runner

in the Mission Conference, Santa Ana’s Brandon Fischer, while Higgs ran

for a career-high 77 yards on 15 carries, including two rushing

touchdowns and found satisfaction in victory and playing the entire game.

He had been splitting playing time with Jason Kripavicius for the past

two weeks, but against the Dons, Higgs logged in a full day’s work.

Coast churned up 311 rushing yards on 51 carries, its highest since

last year’s 55-21 win over Golden West (363). Higgs attempted just 10

passes.

Mittasch, who missed last week’s nightmarish 44-2 loss at Palomar last

week with a neck injury, roared back Saturday with a rugged performance

including, 165 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries.

“It was a long hump to climb after you’re lying on your back after

four losses,” OCC Coach Mike Taylor said. “We came out with a game plan

and we just ran the ball. We were able to get things going. It’s a big

win.”

OCC led throughout and gained advantage in the second quarter with a

nine-play, 80-yard drive that Higgs capped with a 9-yard run on an

option-keep. The Bucs attempted just one pass on the drive and also

benefited from three Santa Ana penalties for 35 yards.

Coast’s running attack continued into the second half when the Bucs

opened with eight plays, with one pass attempt again, for 73 yards. Higgs

faked the option pitch again and dove for a 5-yard touchdown and a 13-0

lead.

The Dons came back with 10 points and grabbed the momentum with a

bizarre call by the officials. It took nearly three minutes for officials

to judge a fumble by Mittasch, and after their meeting they awarded the

ball to the Dons.

Santa Ana immediately went to its bag of tricks and executed a reverse

handoff to receiver Blake Harano, who sent a deep pass to a wide-open

Joel Mijares for 41 yards. OCC cornerback Adrian Calloway made a

touchdown-saving tackle at the OCC 35. But the Dons were called for

holding on their next running play and the Bucs’ defense eventually

forced a punt.

With under seven minutes to play, OCC regained the momentum, when punt

returner Vince Strang was popped before receiving the punt. The penalty

enlivened the Bucs and their running game. OCC ran eight straight running

plays to regain control and basically end the game. With third-and-three

from the Dons’ 38, Mittasch went off left tackle for a 38-yard touchdown.

“The whole team had anger (from last week),” Mittasch said. “We knew

we had to come in and do something big. It was arguably the best game the

offensive line has had this year.”

Coast will once again play for pride when it hosts Fullerton (3-5,

1-3), Saturday at 1 p.m. The matchup will also include a tribute to OCC’s

1951 team, the school’s first conference championship squad.