Hornets sting Bucs

Bryce Alderton

The Orange Coast College football team’s season has been anything but

smooth so far through four games and nothing changed Saturday night

against visiting Fullerton to change that status.

The host Pirates failed to score an offensive touchdown and saw

their starting quarterback and defensive tackle suffer injuries in a

24-9 Fullerton victory in Mission Conference play before about 350 in

LeBard Stadium.

Not to mention OCC’s 16 penalties for 157 yards and two Coast

players being ejected -- one for tugging an official’s shirt.

“I’m frustrated,” OCC Coach Mike Taylor said. “After last week we

made some kids do extra work and it will be interesting to see what

we do this week.

“There is a lot of stuff going on in the game. These are big kids

with big hits. The penalties are part of the game.”

Coast’s most crushing penalties came late in the fourth quarter

with Fullerton leading, 17-9, after backup quarterback Kelika Higa

gained an apparent first down to the Fullerton 41-yard line. But unsportsmanlike conduct and dead-ball penalties sent Coast back 30

yards to their own 29 and the Pirates were forced to punt with just

more than two minutes remaining.

Fullerton tailback Alfred Guidry rambled 38 yards to the Coast 1

on the next possession and leaped in one play later for the final

touchdown.

Coast had gained momentum when starting free safety Nick Dominelli

snared a ball that had glanced off a Fullerton receiver’s hands at

the Hornet 14 and raced in for Coast’s only touchdown of the game,

cutting the lead to 14-7 with four minutes, 48 seconds to go.

Coast kicker Mike DeHart, who booted a 41-yard field goal to give

Coast an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter, then recovered his own

on-side kick to set up the Pirates’ aforementioned drive.

“We practiced that kick, to roll it off the tee,” Taylor said.

“[Fullerton] had 12 guys on the field, but I guess the one player ran

off in time.”

Narrow misses plagued Coast on offense. Higa just missed hitting

receiver Justin Humalon on hitch-and-go routs in the fourth quarter

and OCC’s defense was left exhausted after Fullerton used a 19-play

drive that spanned the final 1:54 of the third quarter and the first

7:27 of the fourth, resulting in a 40-yard field goal by Sam

Paulesco.

Coast lost three defensive linemen in Saturday’s game to a line

that was already lacking freshman end Justin Williams, who left last

week’s game against Saddleback with a sprained knee. Taylor expects

him to return after Coast’s bye Oct. 11.

Sophomore Jesse Mahelona, an all-state defensive tackle a year

ago, took his right shoe off, exposing his foot, and hobbled to a

golf cart before halftime, favoring an ankle that kept him out of

OCC’s 20-0 victory over Los Angeles Southwest two weeks ago.

Fellow defensive tackle Ryan Davis went down early in the fourth

quarter, putting very little weight on his left leg that was taped

following the game. The other starting defensive end was one of two

Coast players ejected.

Coast starting quarterback Beau Budde completed 7 of 13 passes for

84 yards and one interception, but a hit he sustained on the second

series knocked him to the turf and eventually to the sidelines for

the final three quarters. Budde had his right knee taped and was

leaning on crutches wearing a visor, sweatshirt and shorts during the

second half.

Coast quarterbacks used eight receivers, led by Jermaine Snell’s

four catches for 36 yards, and were led on the ground by Chris Vega’s

13 carries for 71 yards and Josh Black running eight times for 67

yards

But the Tom Kirchmeyer-to-Tony Zegers connection produced glory

for Fullerton. Zegers caught eight passes for 117 yards, one a 70-yard touchdown reception where he raced down the sideline and cut

back, knocking a Coast defender off-balance and racing the remaining

30 yards into the end zone.

Coast was left picking up the pieces of a shattered defense, which

came into the game ranked first in the conference.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a game where a team lost that

many linemen,” OCC sophomore linebacker Beau Gertz said.

Gertz said the defense remained motivated, even with the

substitution-laden lineup.

“We never put our heads down,” Gertz said.