Warriors pick off Pirates

COSTA MESA — It was the orange jerseys that were supposed to make the difference, the new uniform feature the Orange Coast College football team broke out for the first time in school history for Saturday’s Mission Conference American Division game against visiting El Camino.

But it was the Warriors’ white road jerseys that proved more compatible with Pirates quarterback Chris Debowski, whose five interceptions led to five El Camino touchdowns in the visitors’ 42-13 victory.

The Pirates trailed, 7-6, when Debowski, who had played well to that point, completing 12 of 18 passes for 107 yards, was intercepted for the first time near the end of the first half by James Wheeler.

Wheeler returned the ball 22 yards to the El Camino 36 and the Warriors (7-1, 3-0 in the division), ranked No. 2 in Southern California and No. 2 in the state, went 64 yards on five plays, capped by a six-yard pass from Boo Jackson to Jonathan Price.

OCC ran out the clock after taking the ensuing kickoff and the OCC defense, which came in ranked No. 1 in the conference in fewest yards allowed per game, forced a three-and-out on El Camino’s first possession of the second half.

But three times in OCC’s next nine offensive plays, El Camino intercepted Debowski passes, setting the Warriors’ offense up at the OCC 2, the OCC 29 and the El Camino 41-yard line. Each time, El Camino produced touchdowns.

On OCC’s fourth possession of the third quarter, El Camino cut out the middle man, as Hilton Dawson III returned his interception 57 yards for a touchdown. James’ Cullen’s sixth conversion kick made it 42-6, considerably lessening any glow the Orange jerseys may have created.

The loss dropped OCC to 3-5, 1-2, eliminating any chance at a third consecutive bowl berth. The Pirates will merely play out the string, Saturday at home against Long Beach City and a season-ending makeup game with rival Golden West. The Golden West game, originally scheduled Oct. 27, was canceled due to poor air quality created by Orange County fires. It will be played either Nov. 16 or 17, a decision that will be made today, OCC Coach Mike Taylor said.

One interception was tipped by an OCC receiver and another was initially deflected by an El Camino defender. And Debowski was harried throughout, as OCC implemented a plan to throw short and quick to avoid the wrath of the Warriors’ trademark blitz package.

“Chris got rattled a little bit there in the third quarter,” Taylor said of the sophomore quarterback making his third start this season, the fourth of his career. It was Debowski’s poise and leadership that earned much of the credit for the Pirates’ 35-34 double-overtime win over Fullerton on Oct. 20. Debowski threw for two touchdowns, ran for another and completed the game-winning two-point conversion pass to cap the second overtime.

“He was getting pressured and had some passes batted around a little bit and [the Warriors] got some opportunistic picks,” Taylor said. “We didn’t have a chance to hang on to the ball and throw it a long ways. I thought we pass blocked pretty well in the first half. [The Warriors] were always bringing people and were kind of locked up [in man-to-man coverage] in the secondary,. We had to get the ball off relatively quickly. I watched [The Golden West quarterback] get sacked a bunch of times [in the Rustlers’ 44-14 loss to El Camino Oct. 19].”

El Camino defensive backs dropped two would-be interceptions, and the Warriors sacked Debowski and replacement Sean Hakes one time each.

Debowski was 16 of 31 for 131 yards and a touchdown, a 24-yard screen to Nathan Barnett.

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

FIRST QUARTER

OCC – Barnett 24 pass from Debowski (kick failed), 0:40.

SECOND QUARTER

EC – Price 48 punt return (Cullen kick), 12:26.

EC – Price 6 pass from Jackson (Cullen kick), 1:04.

THIRD QUARTER

EC – Deberry 6 pass from Jackson (Cullen kick), 10:28.

EC – Tucker 28 pass from Jackson (Cullen kick), 8:23.

EC – Surrency 13 pass from Jackson (Cullen kick), 3:02.

FOURTH QUARTER

EC – Dawson 57 interception return (Cullen kick), 14:47.

OCC – King 4 run (Williams kick), 8:08.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

EC – Jackson, 3-29; Pressley, 7-19; Ashley, 3-19; Francis, 2-10; Hokama, 2-8; Hill, 2-8; Romero, 1-8; Fifita, 2-7; Butler, 3-4; Ray, 3-3; Surrency, 1-3 Areyan, 1-2.

OCC – Barrett, 2-24; Burnell, 6-13; King, 3-8, 1 TD; Marquise, 2-3; Debowski, 5-2; Barnett, 1-2; Ah-Hi, 8-1; Hakes, 2-minus 6; Team, 1-minus 7; Villa, 1-minus 9.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

EC – Jackson, 14-23-0, 198, 4 TDs; Romero, 1-4-1, 9.

OCC – Debowski, 16-31-5, 131, 1 TD; Hakes, 4-13-0, 51.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

EC – Surrency, 5-85, 1 TD; Tucker, 2-59, 1 TD; Moore, 2-24; Ashleu, 1-13; Fitzhugh, 1-9; Price, 1-6, 1 TD; Deberry, 1-6, 1 TD; Hill, 1-4; Francis, 1-1.

OCC – Barnett, 5-57, 1 TD; Brown, 4-29; Villapando, 3-28; Villa, 1-22; Hall, 3-20; Simmons, 2-18; Durnell, 2-8.