OCC, Rustlers meet in West-Coast Showdown

When these two rivals get together, you can throw out the ... table manners.

The Orange Coast College football team will battle district rival Golden West tonight at 6 at LeBard Stadium in the 41st edition of the game formerly known as The Battle for the Bell.

The game has been renamed the West-Coast Showdown, though the perpetual Bell trophy is still awarded to the winner.

And while last year’s season-ending 30-28 Orange Coast victory should help motivate a Rustlers squad that upset Saddleback, then ranked No. 9 in the state, 16-11, in this year’s opener, the Pirates (2-0) are not without a fresh memory of their own defeat at the hands of the Huntington Beach school.

Golden West (1-1) edged Orange Coast in a rib-eating contest Wednesday at Newport Rib Company in Costa Mesa, though not without some good-natured controversy.

“Golden West won by half a rib, but our kids claim their guy didn’t swallow the winning rib,” OCC Coach Mike Taylor said with a laugh.

Said one observer with OCC ties, “All of a sudden, the Golden West folks started celebrating, and it looked like one of their guys still had about a half a cow in his mouth.”

In the Rustlers’ defense, the Orange Coast observer said rules as to whether clean mouths were required to be considered finished were not clearly established before the two four-player teams dived into each foursome’s ration of 50 ribs.

Taylor also said the Pirates’ eaters — sophomore offensive tackle Jacob Hayes, sophomore defensive end Christian Bonsall, sophomore defensive tackle Dane Kibodeaux and sophomore offensive lineman Luis Vazquez, well more than a half-ton of combined appetite — were handicapped by an unwillingness to be uncouth.

“A couple of our guys were too nice,” Taylor said. “They were holding the bones in their hand, because they didn’t know where to put them. I finally told them to drop the bones they were done with back in the pan.”

The bones of this rivalry include a 20-18-2 edge for Golden West, which upset the Bucs, 20-13, in 2006, then fueled the ire of last year’s OCC squad by posting highlights of the surprising triumph on YouTube.

OCC, ranked No. 22 in the state, is looking for a considerably better challenge than it received in wins over Santa Monica and Los Angeles Southwest.

Golden West was humbled last week, 52-7, by Mt. San Antonio, the state’s top-ranked team.

“I think it will be a close game that should come down to the end,” Taylor said.

— Barry Faulkner