Dailey dose gives OCC uplifting win

Barry Faulkner

On the way to its fourth straight game without a second-half score,

an Orange Coast College offense in need of a little self-esteem boost

received its “Dailey” affirmation Saturday night.

Freshman cornerback Marques Dailey returned a third-quarter

interception 34 yards for a touchdown to break a 10-10 tie and

provide the difference in the Pirates’ 17-10 football victory over

Mission Conference American Division visitor Long Beach City.

The win snapped a nine-game losing streak for the hosts (1-5, 1-0

in American Division play) and rekindled their hopes for a positive

2004 season.

“Not having won any, a 17-10 win feels way better,” OCC Coach Mike

Taylor said. “It feels great to get a win.”

Victory appeared in the offing after Orange Coast dominated the

first quarter to produce a 10-0 cushion over the Vikings (2-4, 0-1).

The Pirates drove 71 yards on eight plays to open the scoring,

with sophomore quarterback Kyle Basanez hitting Eric Dietz on a

skinny post for a 21-yard touchdown with 3:51 elapsed.

After the OCC defense forced a punt, the Bucs marched seven plays,

before settling for Adam Kleckner’s 37-yard field goal with 4:12 left

in the first period.

The offensive production continued through the midway point of the

second quarter. OCC’s third possession lasted 14 plays and nearly

nine minutes, before Kleckner missed a 32-yard field-goal attempt

wide left.

The errant three-point try, OCC’s fourth miss in six attempts to

that point in the season, appeared to shift momentum. The Vikings

immediately initiated a nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive capped by

a 4-yard Martin Acosta run.

Long Beach regained possession after a punt with 58 seconds left

and used two pass completions to move 61 yards to the OCC 10-yard

line. But after OCC cornerback Darryl Hawkins broke up a pass in the

end zone with three seconds left in the half, Long Beach settled for

a 27-yard Jeffrey Hastings field goal to forge the 10-10 halftime

deadlock.

The second half began well for the hosts, when Alex Roberts lined

his kickoff off a Long Beach player positioned 10 yards from the ball

and Coast freshman Sam Islas recovered at the 50.

OCC advanced to the 3, before a run lost 2, a would-be Basanez

bootleg for a touchdown was nullified by a holding penalty -- the

first of two OCC TDs nullified by penalties -- and a pair of

incompletions brought on Kleckner for a 27-yard field-goal try.

The kick, however, was blocked by Long Beach’s Khalid Abdur Rahim

and the OCC offense did not get past the Vikings’ 29-yard line until

a 15-play march ran out the final 7:30 of the game to seal the

victory.

“We moved the ball, but we just didn’t get into the end zone,”

said Taylor, whose offense produced season highs of 223 rushing yards

and 394 yards of total offense on the defense that ranked last,

statistically, in the 12-team conference.

Basanez completed 14 of 24 for 171 yards and did not throw an

interception. He also scrambled for 49 yards on five carries, none

bigger than a zig-zagging 21-yard pickup to the Long Beach 4 on

fourth-and-five with just under two minutes remaining.

Long Beach, with no timeouts remaining, was then forced to watch

Basanez kneel twice, then begin celebrating with his teammates.

“We’ve been working hard and we came together as a team,” Basanez

said. “We came into this week [after a bye and opening American

Division play] believing this was a new season for us. If we could

win the last five games, we could go to a bowl game.”

Tailbacks Robert Aoki (81 yards on 14 carries) and Matt Padilla

(71 on 15 attempts) took advantage of the blocking provided by

tackles Ryan Pahua, Jon Ioane and Tommy Crowley, guards Kyle Collins

and Blake Sorber, center Ricky Mercado, tight end Jon Garcia and

260-pound fullback Jimmy Niutapuai.

Herb Martin (two catches for 49 yards) and Dietz (two for 35) led

eight Pirates who caught passes, as the Bucs amassed 22 first downs.

Defensively, sophomore end Ricky Miller, freshman outside

linebacker Bubba Reynolds and freshman safety Mordy Ornguze

consistently came up big.

In addition to Dailey’s interception, only the second of the

season by OCC, Hawkins, cornerback Jonah Katende, safety Chucky

Linman, middle linebacker Dave Ronning and tackle Ryan Davis made big

plays for the Pirates’ defense.

Taylor said he was hesitant to try a 42-yard field goal with 1:41

left, so he opted to go for it on fourth-and-five and Basanez

produced the clinching first down.