Orange Coast back in winner’s circle

Bryce Alderton

Never in his high school or junior college career had Orange Coast

College tailback Niles Mittasch rushed for 200 or more yards in a

game -- that is until Saturday night rolled around.

The sophomore ran rampant against the Fullerton Hornets (2-7, 0-4

in the Mission Conference Central Division) rushing for 224 yards on

28 carries with touchdown runs of 24, 22 and 8 yards to boost Orange

Coast (4-5, 2-2) back into the winner’s circle with a 37-21 victory

at Fullerton High.

“I came in wanting 300,” said an elated Mittasch following his

performance. “After losing last week we all knew we had to work hard

to get to 5-5 but the whole team set a goal and we accomplished that

tonight. The offense kept the defense going and the defense kept the

offense going. I have to give the (offensive) line props, it takes 11

people to make the perfect play.”

Coast’s offensive line of Patrick Afif, Keola Loo, Ed Fane, Donnie

Garcia and Stephen Herring opened up sizeable holes for Mittasch, who

ran up the middle but quickly bounced out to the right to race around

the corner and score his first touchdown with 7:57 left in the first,

OCC’s first offensive TD in 10 quarters, and on his 24-yard scoring

scamper in the second quarter. Mittasch’s longest run came on a 55

yard sprint down the left sideline in the fourth quarter with the

game in OCC’s control.

“I’ve always liked to cut back in and slash and when the

opportunity comes I take it,” Mittasch said.

Coast’s offense produced 355 total yards compared with Fullerton’s

352, a stark contrast to last week’s 16-yard performance in an 8-0

loss to Santa Ana for the Pirates.

Dan Hawkey rushed for 56 yards on 12 carries, including a 1-yard

TD run with 3:27 left in the third quarter on a three-play, 15-yard

drive, and Russell Oschman gained 17 yards on five carries, both

seeing playing time because Steven Mahelona suffered a hip pointer in

last week’s game and sat out Saturday’s game.

The Pirates defense forced five turnovers (three interceptions and

two fumbles) including a 57-yard TD on a fumble recovery by Jason

Brooks, who stripped the ball from a Fullerton runner, and Coast had

the momentum, 14-0 before the first quarter ended.

Brooks added an interception as did sophomore Adrian Calloway, a

33-yard return to the Fullerton 11 in the third quarter that set up a

Bryce Sheridan 25-yard field goal. Nick Dominelli returned Coast’s

third interception 28 yards in the waning minutes to preserve the

win.

Fullerton got to within 10 points at 24-14 after quarterback Sean

Durham found Gregory Woodard down the sideline for a 40-yard score

with just under four minutes left in the third period, and the

Hornets tried an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff but Jaiya Howze

recovered, setting the stage for Hawkey’s 1 yard-scoring run three

plays later.

“We are an active team that runs around a lot and makes plays,”

Taylor said. “That’s what we like to do. It’s the extra-curricular

stuff that is frustrating.”

Both teams combined for 224 penalty yards, a majority of them

coming in the fourth quarter that resulted in two Orange Coast

players being ejected after receiving personal foul calls.

“There’s a lot of pride in this game and the penalties get out of

hand,” Taylor said. “Someone pushes somebody and then that person

pushes back. We’re going to talk to our players and get ready for

next week.”