Just no holding that Tiger
Tony Altobelli
RIVERSIDE - The bye week for Orange Coast College’s football team
couldn’t come quick enough, as the Pirates lost to host Riverside, 48-15,
Saturday night in nonconference action.
“We’ve lost that magic that we had at the beginning of the season,”
Coach Mike Taylor said. “But that’s gonna happen throughout a long
season. We now have to regroup and move on. When it rains, it pours, I
guess.”
The extra week to open Mission Conference Northern Division will not
only help the Pirates’ wounded crew, but will also give Taylor a chance
to find a way to stem the overflow of points being given up the past
three weeks.
“We had some trouble in our secondary, giving up the big play and our
offensive line had a tough night as well,” Taylor said. “Riverside has
some great athletes over there and they showed their skills tonight.”
The win was the Tigers’ first of the season and they did it by taking
advantage of the big play. Five of Riverside’s seven touchdowns were on
plays of 30 yards or longer.
Two of their players, Marshall Johnson and Reggie Williams only
touched the ball nine times and the duo combined for 269 rushing and
receiving yards and five touchdowns for the Tigers (1-4).
Similar to last year’s defensive battle, both teams actually had
trouble finding the end zone as Riverside led, 7-3, near the end of the
first half.
The Pirates (2-3) had first-and-goal opportunities twice in the first
half and managed to score only three points.
Riverside made it 14-3 on a couple of jump-ball-type passes that
managed to land in the arms of Tigers’ receivers, one of which was in the
end zone.
“Our guys were getting spun around and Riverside managed to make the
plays as we were still looking for the ball,” Taylor said.
Taylor brought in injured running backs Raymond Ohrel and Jimmie Banks
to try to keep the game close.
Ohrel had 73 second-half rushing and receiving yards, while Banks
added 28 yards on the ground, but it wasn’t enough.
“We tried to use them as a way to spark the offense, but it takes more
than two guys to get the job done,” Taylor said. “I was proud of those
guys playing through the injuries.”
The Tigers blew the game open in the third quarter, scoring
21-straight points before OCC could get on the scoreboard again.
That came on a 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by James
Dawkins, one of the few bright spots for the Bucs on the night.
That bright spot was short-lived, as the Tigers scored again 32
seconds later.
After another Tigers’ score, OCC capped off the scoring with a 46-yard
pass from quarterback Jared Flint to David Castleton.
Flint managed to complete 15 of 23 passes for 178 yards, despite six
sacks, four near-sacks and constant harassment from the Tigers’ defense.
“He’s a tough kid, that’s for sure,” Taylor said of Flint. “He’s
really come a long way. He wasn’t complaining or pointing fingers out
there. He was just trying to make the best of the situation.”
After the bye week, OCC will host Cerritos Saturday, Oct. 23 at 1 p.m.
“We’ve got five killer games ahead of us,” Taylor said. “Our guys will
battle back and if we get healthy, who knows?”
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