Football: Fullerton pulls away to top OCC

Host Orange Coast College was tied with Fullerton, ranked No. 5 in the state and No. 3 in Southern California, early in the third quarter, before the Hornets pulled away for a 35-14 Southern Conference football win on Saturday.

OCC quarterback Kody Whitaker’s two-yard touchdown run pulled the Pirates even, 14-14, with 11:12 left in the third period.

But Fullerton (8-1, 3-1 in conference), which moved into a first-place tie with Golden West after the Rustlers fell to Grossmont on Saturday, scored a pair of touchdowns in the next 3:32 and added another early in the fourth quarter.

Whitaker completed 17 of 35 passes for 203 yards and one touchdown, the latter upping his school-career-record total to 31.

Derrick Hunt carried 23 times for 123 rushing yards and Joey Cox had seven receptions for 83 yards for the Pirates (3-6, 1-3).

Fullerton quarterback Jordan Hoy threw for 198 yards and two touchdowns to help the Hornets, who came in averaging a state-best 54.1 points per game, amass 529 yards of total offense, to OCC’s 323.

A 50-yard touchdown pass from Whitaker to Gunar Perales knotted the score at 7-7 with 11:37 left in the first half.

Orange Coast finishes its season by visiting Saddleback on Saturday at 6 p.m.

— From staff reports