Orange Coast defense stuffs Cougars

LOS ANGELES — Much of the negativity created by the Orange Coast College football team Saturday night was a result of tackling Los Angeles Southwest ballcarriers in the backfield.

But beyond holding the host Cougars to minus-32 yards on 21 rushing attempts, there were areas of seepage for the less-than-positive elements of the Pirates’ 26-9 victory that upped their record to 2-0.

There were, in fact, 197 penalty yards incurred on 20 OCC infractions, one interception thrown in the end zone and one touchdown pass nullified by a penalty.

There was, therefore, cause for some criticism in Coach Mike Taylor’s postgame assessment.

“The kids played hard, but they didn’t always play smart,” Taylor said after his team posted the most penalty yards in a game in recent memory.

Still, with OCC tacklers swarming and shackling Cougar rushers, and holding Southwest (0-2) to 16 yards of total offense through three scoreless quarters, there was plenty of leeway for the OCC offense to eventually find the end zone in the second half.

Sophomore tailback Ray Holley, who collected 222 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries in the season opener, was once again the marquee attraction for the Pirates. He slashed, sprinted and spun through the Southwest defense for 163 yards and two touchdowns on a career-high 35 attempts.

Holley’s five-yard scoring run with 7:07 left in the third quarter capped a 14-play, 87-yard drive that put the Pirates firmly ahead, though they were clearly already in firm control.

Holley, whose halfback pass was tipped near the line and intercepted in the end zone to thwart OCC’s first serious scoring threat, capped the Pirates’ scoring with a seven-yard sweep with 3:07 left in the game.

Freshman Lucas Vandeman opened the scoring with a 39-yard field goal early in the second quarter and freshman Mike Patrick blocked a punt out of the end zone for a safety to make it 5-0 with 8:42 left before halftime.

OCC sophomore quarterback Kyle Manning connected with freshman Lano Fuentes for a 74-yard scoring pass just three plays after Southwest got on the scoreboard with an early-third-quarter field goal.

The TD toss represented nearly half of Manning’s 153-yard aerial production. He completed nine of 22 attempts and threw one interception.

But it was the defense that deserved most of the credit for the Pirates.

Southwest was halted at or behind the line 15 times, while six additional Cougar offensive plays produced no more than two yards. Three times, OCC held Southwest to a three-yard gain.

Freshman end Aaron Henry had two of the Pirates’ five sacks, as sophomore tackle Jimmy Niutupuai, freshman tackle Tavita Tanielu and sophomore tackle Kevin Borton also corralled Cougars quarterback Marcell Dejean in the pocket.

The linebacker rotation that included Jimmy Keating and Travis Sanford (in on a team-best four tackles each), as well as Eric Wiersma, Travis McNaughton, Matt McCloskey and Bryan Pali, also consistently dominated in the neutral zone.

Patrick, a strong safety, and free safety Keahi Reakes contributed strong run support from the secondary.

OCC has now held opponents to minus-44 yards on 41 rushing attempts this season.

The cornerbacks, however, repeatedly had receivers get behind them. This may have produced more serious consequences, had not Dejean been harried consistently enough to help prevent him from finding the open targets.

Southwest scored its lone touchdown on a 27-yard Dejean pass to Jerome Wooten with 44 seconds left. The Cougars had just 58 yards total offense in their opener against El Camino and now have minus-72 rushing yards on the season.

“It’s nice to be 2-0, but we have a lot of things we need to correct,” said Taylor, who noted that the next eight games will come against markedly stiffer competition.

That stretch begins Saturday at home against arch-rival Golden West.

Orange Coast 26, Los Angeles Southwest 9

SCORE BY QUARTERS

OCC 0-5-17-14--26

LAS 0-0-0-9--9

SECOND QUARTER

OCC – Vandeman 39 FG, 11:05.

OCC – Safety – Patrick blocks puntout of end zone, 8:42.

THIRD QUARTER

OCC – Holley 5 run (Vandeman kick), 7:07.

FOURTH QUARTER

LAS – DeLeon 43 FG, 12:12.

OCC – Fuentes 74 pass from Manning (Vandeman kick), 10:40.

OCC – Holley 7 run (Vandeman kick), 3:07.

LAS – Wooten 27 pass from Dejean (pass failed), 0:44. 

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

OCC – Holley, 35-163, 2 TDs; Fuentes, 2-10; Allen, 1-4; Lee, 1-minus-1; Manning, 3-minus-7.

LAS – Norwood, 11-9; Wooten, 1-minus-20; Dejean, 9-minus-21. 

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

OCC – Manning, 9-22-1, 153, 1 TD; Holley, 0-1-1.

LAS – Dejean, 14-26-0, 140, 1 TD. 

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

OCC – Fuentes, 1-74, 1 TD; Burdett, 2-20; Allen, 3-11; Estrada, 1-18; Vidal, 1-16; Holley, 1-14.

LAS – Wooten, 5-76, 1 TD; Pandy, 5-59; Littleton, 1-8; Norwood, 3-minus-3.