Holley paces Pirates’ opening triumph

SANTA MONICA — Orange Coast College football coach Mike Taylor got what anyone in his position would want from a season-opening game Saturday night.

The Pirates’ 44-28 triumph over host Santa Monica first and foremost gave Taylor a winning smile.

Other positives abounded, led by sophomore tailback Ray Holley’s 215 yards and three touchdowns on 29 rushing attempts.

No serious injuries were apparent for OCC, which snapped a six-game losing streak that carried over from last season. And the Pirates’ run defense held the Corsairs to minus-nine yards on the ground.

But, as Taylor was quick to point out, his players also committed enough mistakes to keep them humble and give the coaches plenty to correct.

“We’ve got a lot of things to work on,” Taylor told his players after the triumph. “There usually has to be a big growth between the first and second game. This year, we are going to have to have a huge growth.”

Holley will find it hard to have even an incremental improvement, as he exploded for nearly half the ground yardage he collected all last season (464).

Operating behind an offensive line with four second-year starters, Holley slashed, sprinted, surged and spun for eight runs of at least 10 yards. His longest gain, a 66-yard jaunt, ended with a lost fumble, as he was caught from behind.

But Holley was anything but run down in this one. He scored on carries of one, one and two yards, twice capping drives in which he did most of the heavy lifting.

Starting tackles Harrison Lauer and Jon Roche, guards Gerald Crisp and London Sapolu, and center Frank Arriola did some hard labor of their own, to help spring Holley.

Tight ends Anthony Vidal and Cordell Simmons, as well as 255-pound fullback Brandon Allen also created holes for Holley, who helped override a less-than-cohesive passing attack.

Sophomore quarterback Kyle Manning, making his first collegiate start, completed six of 20 passes for 88 yards and one touchdown. He also threw one interception.

And while OCC scored a pair of touchdowns on special teams, some early blunders in the kicking game helped Santa Monica, coming off an 0-10 season, build a little bluster, as well as a 6-0 lead after one quarter.

Sophomore receiver Chris Reinhanifam muffed a punt reception at his own 10-yard line and after the ball bounded into the end zone, it was recovered by Santa Monica’s Stephan Gentili for a touchdown midway through the first quarter.

OCC fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, but a staunch defense that limited the Corsairs to two first-half first downs, was there to allow plenty of time for recovery.

OCC took the lead for good just two plays into the second quarter, when Manning lofted a 17-yard scoring strike to Kalii Kunitomo that capped a seven-play, 50-yard drive.

Freshman kicker Lucas Vandeman added the conversion kick and the Pirates slowly pulled away.

When freshman Bryce Brantley scooped up a fumbled punt snap and raced 28 yards for a touchdown with 3:41 left in the first half, it marked the first of four straight scoring possessions for the visitors.

Holley cashed in a fumble recovery by sophomore linebacker Jimmy Keating by scoring with 30 seconds left before intermission. The PAT by Vandeman, who was perfect on five conversion attempts (OCC’s lone miss was not his) and also added a 32-yard field goal, put OCC up, 20-6.

Corsairs quarterback Zachary Scribner amassed 297 of his 333 passing yards after halftime, including fourth-quarter TD tosses of 69, 40 and 34 yards, the latter two to Chase Fletcher, who averaged 20 yards on his six catches.

Holley, who had 99 carries as a freshman, soared over a pile into the end zone on the last of his attempts Saturday.

He was then sat out the final 10:22 as Taylor said he did not want to risk an injury to his most productive player.

Freshman cornerback Tommy Gatewood had an interception for Orange Coast, which visits Los Angeles Southwest Saturday, before playing its first home game Sept. 19 against rival Golden West.

Orange Coast 44, Santa Monica 28

Orange Coast 0-20-10-14--44

Santa Monica 6-0-0-22--28

SCORE BY QUARTERS

FIRST QUARTER

SM – Gentili fumble recovery in end zone (kick failed), 7:07.

SECOND QUARTER

OCC – Kunitomo 17 pass from Manning (Vandeman kick), 14:23.

OCC – Brantley 28 rumble return (kick failed), 3:41.

OCC – Holley 2 run (Vandeman kick), 0:30.

THIRD QUARTER

OCC – Vandeman 32 FG, 10:08.

OCC – Holley 1 run (Vandeman kick), 3:14.

FOURTH QUARTER

SM – Fletcher 34 pass from Scribner (Fletcher pass from Scribner), 12:15.

OCC – Holley 1 run (Vandeman kick), 10:22.

SM – Fletcher 40 pass from Scribner (Whiting pass from Scribner), 6:49.

OCC – Galvez fumble recovery in end zone (Vandeman kick), 2:11.

SM – Benett 69 pass from Scribner (pass failed), 1:44.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

OCC – Holley, 29-215, 3 TDs; Fuentes, 1-40; Lee, 7-25; Matthews, 2-11; Tracy, 2-7; Manning, 5-minus-6.

SM – Fletcher, 1-7; Rawls, 2-3; Gordan, 12-minus-2; Scribner, 2-minus-3; team, 2-minus-14.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

OCC – Manning, 6-20-1, 88, 1 TD.

SM – Scribner, 25-49-1, 333, 3 TDs; Benett, 0-1-0.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

OCC – Romo, 1-36, Fuentes, 1-19; Kunitomo, 1-17, 1 TD; Allen, 2-5; Brister, 1-11.

SM – Fletcher, 6-120, 2 TDs; Benett, 5-97, 1 TD; Whiting, 4-41; Gordan, 3-37; Rivers, 2-12; Garcia, 2-9; Bass, 2-8; Rawls, 1-9.