Orange Coast College

Football: Mounties cash in miscues, roll past Pirates

Saturday, September 29, 2007

WALNUT - It was more of the same for the Orange Coast College football team as offensive mistakes led to 20 second-quarter points, enabling Mt. San Antonio to roll past the Pirates 34-3 on Saturday at Hilmer Lodge Stadium.

Leading 3-0 early in the second quarter, OCC (2-3) had the ball near midfield and was beginning to show signs of life when Hebron Fangupo broke into the Pirate backfield and forced a Coast fumble. Mounties' teammate Mike Williams returned the ball 25 yards before quarterback Chris Debowski stripped him of the ball. However, Mt. SAC's Phillip White picked up that loose ball on the OCC 20 and returned it the rest of the way for a Mountie touchdown.

Mt. SAC (3-2) would not trail the rest of the way.

Debowski, making his first start of the season, threw for 89 yards on 6-of-16 passing, but had one costly interception that gave Mt. SAC the ball on OCC's 2-yard line with 4:40 left in the first half. Just one play was needed for the Mounties to score -- a 2-yard run by Lancer Iosefa -- giving the hosts a 13-3 lead following a missed PAT.

Finally, with 2:50 left in the half, Debowski was sacked and stripped of the ball by Marc Alamillo and Fangupo recovered on OCC's 20 and after a 12-yard return, Mt. SAC was once again on OCC's doorstep.

Four plays later, Iosefa slammed across the goal line from a yard out to make it 20-3 with 1:54 remaining in the first half and Mt. SAC cruised from there.

In the second half, a pair of big plays not only padded the Mounties' offensive total, they also helped Mt. SAC find the end zone two more times.

Late in the third quarter, quarterback Kevin Craft found Matt Austin down the sideline for a 75-yard touchdown strike to make it 27-3.

Mounties' running back William Woods broke free for a 48-yard touchdown run early in the fourth to cap off the scoring.

With constant pressure from the Mounties' defense, OCC could not find offensive success in any direction. The Pirates were held to just 29 yards of rushing on 35 carries and were sacked nine times. Passing-wise, the Pirates' QB tandem of Debowski and Sean Hakes (5-18-0, 121 yards) threw for 210 yards, however 121 of those yards came on just two long pass plays.

Following a bye week this week, OCC will kick off American Division play at Palomar on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 5 p.m. The Pirates' next home game will be Oct. 20 against Fullerton, at 5 p.m.