OCC football game canceled

The perpetual Bell trophy that goes to the annual winner of the Orange Coast College football game against district rival Golden West will remain at Golden West one more year. The game between the two schools, scheduled for Saturday, was canceled Friday, due to poor air quality created by Southern California fires.

Orange Coast Coach Mike Taylor said OCC Athletic Director Barbara Bond, in communication with Mission Conference Commissioner T. Mark Johnson and Golden West Athletic Director Albert Gasparian, elected to cancel the game, the last among six conference contests to be canceled. The decision to cancel was announced by OCC via e-mail in a news release Friday at 1:27 p.m.

For at least an hour after that, the Mission Conference football website indicated that the game would still be played.

The statement on the conference website, which had been removed by late Friday afternoon, read: “Barring any further negative changes in the air quality or any increase in local fires, Saturday’s football game between Orange Coast and Golden West will be played on Saturday at 5 p.m. at [OCC’s] LeBard Stadium. With the air quality improving and the fires becoming more and more contained, both teams have agreed to play on Saturday.”

Johnson said he had nothing to do with the decision to cancel, noting college presidents were ultimately responsible for making the call on whether to play or not.

Bond, Gasparian, and Orange Coast President Bob Dees did not return phone messages left Friday.

The OCC-Golden West game, like others in the conference scheduled for Saturday, will not be made up, Taylor said.

The Pirates (3-4, 1-1 in the Mission Conference American Division, one of two six-team divisions within the conference) will return to action Nov. 3 against El Camino at OCC.

Other than disappointment from the players, the revenue generated by the game, homecoming for Golden West, and the inability to fight for the Bell trophy and bragging rights on the field, the cancellation will have no impact, Taylor said.

Orange Coast will still need to win its remaining two games to make a run at becoming one of 14 teams from three Southern California conferences — the Mission, the Western States and the Foothill — to be selected to play in postseason bowl games.

Should OCC upset El Camino (6-1, 2-0) and defeat Long Beach City College at home on Nov. 10, the Pirates would finish 5-4. Taylor said teams must have a winning record to be considered for a bowl game.

“We were on the edge [of qualifying for a third straight bowl game] anyway,” Taylor said.

Information on other game cancellations on the Mission Conference website indicated the inability to practice this week was a contributing factor in the decision not to play.

Taylor said officials at OCC and Golden West ultimately elected not to be the only two teams in the conference who elected to play.

All Orange County public high schools postponed football games scheduled Thursday through Saturday, many of which will be played Monday.

Taylor said playing games Monday was not discussed.

Most community college and college athletic events scheduled Tuesday through Saturday have been canceled or postponed, especially events held outside.

UC Irvine elected to play its Big West Conference home volleyball matches Friday (against Long Beach State) and tonight (against Cal State Northridge) at Crawford Court. UCI played in a men’s golf tournament in Long Beach Thursday and Friday, but postponed a women’s soccer game and a men’s water polo game scheduled for Friday night at UCI.

This marks only the third time in the last 42 years that OCC and Golden West have not played in football. The two teams played every year from 1966 through 1997, before a realignment of conferences interrupted the rivalry. They met again in 2000 and had met every subsequent year, until this year.

Golden West, which surprised the Pirates last season with a 20-13 victory, leads the series, 20-17-2.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.