Orange Coast College

Football: Turnovers costly as El Camino rolls past Pirates

Sunday, November 04, 2007

COSTA MESA - Not even new orange jerseys could overcome the old funk that takes place when Orange Coast takes on El Camino.

For the 18th time in 22 games, it was the second-ranked Warriors (7-1, 3-0 in Mission Conference) that prevailed against the Pirates as the state's No. 2 team came into OCC's LeBard Stadium and posted a 42-13 win on Saturday night.

OCC (3-5, 1-2) hung tough though the first half and trailed 14-6 before the offensive turnovers reared their ugly heads once again in the second half.

Four straight OCC drives in the second half ended with interceptions and all four resulted in Warrior touchdowns, turning the eight-point game into a 36-point blowout.

Using their athletic size and quickness, the Warriors' defense was relentless, forcing OCC quarterback Chris Debowski into five interceptions for the game.

In the first half, the Pirates played strong and kept the ball out of the Warriors' hands, using a combination of runs and short passes to control the time of possession.

While the offense was doing its job, the OCC defense kept one of the conference's most explosive offenses in check. After three straight El Camino punts, the Pirates jumped out in front when Debowski hooked up with sophomore wide receiver Nathan Barnett (pictured right) for a 24-yard touchdown completion, giving OCC a 6-0 lead after a missed point-after attempt.

That lead lasted until early in the second quarter when Jonathan Price returned a punt 48 yards for El Camino's first touchdown of the night. The successful PAT gave the Warriors the lead for the rest of the night.

It stayed a defensive struggle the rest of the first half until the first interception of the night led to another ECC score late in the first half.

Following the pickoff, the Warriors ripped off a four-play, 64-yard drive, capped off with a 6-yard pass from quarterback Boo Jackson (13-22-0, 192 yards, four TDs) to Price to make it 14-6 at the half.

Back-to-back interceptions inside OCC's 30-yard line led to a pair of short fields and a pair of quick touchdowns by the Warriors. Jackson connected on a 1-yard TD strike to Harry Deberry and a 28-yard TD to Verran Tucker and the rout was on.

Late in the third quarter, Jackson again found the end zone as he hooked up with Corey Surrency for a 13-yard completion in the end zone to make it 35-6.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Debowski's fifth INT was returned 57 yards for a touchdown, ending the sophomore's night with the Pirates trailing 42-6.

Following a Chris Holmesly interception for OCC, the Pirates capped off the night's scoring with a five-play, 41-yard drive that ended with a 4-yard touchdown run by Kornell King.

Coming into the game averaging 445.9 yards per game, the ECC offense was held to 319 by the OCC defense, while the ECC defense held the Pirate ground game to just 24 yards on 30 carries.

OCC's lone offensive bright spot came from Barnett, who finished with 57 yards on five receptions and one touchdown and also gained 27 yards on the ground.

The Pirates will return to action on Saturday at home against Long Beach City, beginning at 5 p.m.