Orange Coast College

Football: Pirates fall to Grossmont, 21-13

Sunday, October 26, 2008

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College football team was again its own worst enemy on Saturday night with a 21-13 SCFA Southern Conference loss to visiting Grossmont at LeBard Stadium.

Despite doubling the Griffins in first downs (22-11) and racking up more total yards of offense (298-260), the Pirates (4-3, 0-3 in conference) struggled to find the end zone. Five different times, OCC marched into Grossmont territory, but came away with zero points.

While the offense struggled, the defense managed to keep Grossmont (5-3, 2-1) in check, despite a look of confusion at times.

After a scoreless first quarter, Grossmont found the end zone midway through the second when quarterback Brandon Fricke hit Miles McPherson for a 12-yard touchdown, giving the Griffins a 7-0 lead. The scoring drive started on the Pirate's 30-yard line after a Jake Fields' punt was blocked by the Griffins' Abraha Muheize, setting up a short field.

Late in the first half, an OCC punt deep in its end helped set up the Griffins' next scoring drive. With the ball on the Pirates' 45, Fricke used a blown coverage by the Pirates and hit a wide-open Paul Aubin for a 45-yard touchdown with 13 seconds left on the clock, giving the guests a 14-0 halftime advantage.

While the Grossmont offense was stuffing Kevin Ah-Hi and the Pirates' ground game, Coast tried to incorporate Ah-Hi in the passing game and found immediate success. Late in the fourth quarter, a 27-yard Ah-Hi catch from quarterback Taylor Hughes was followed quickly by a well-designed screen pass to Ah-Hi and the sophomore back dashed 51 yards into the end zone, cutting the lead to 14-6 following a blocked PAT.

In the game's final few minutes, OCC again had the ball deep in Griffins' territory, but a costly holding penalty forced the Pirates into long-yard situations. Finally, on fourth-and-10, Hughes' fade pass to Chris Reihanifam near the end zone was batted away, giving the ball back to Grossmont.

Griffins' running back Garen Demery was held in check all night long by the Pirates -- until the end when he took a handoff, ran up the left side and dashed into the end zone for a 72-yard touchdown run, putting Grossmont up 21-6.

Fighting until the end, sophomore defensive end Dean DeLeone became a new weapon on the kickoff team and streaked 97 yards back on the Griffins' special teams unit, making it 21-13 with 1:21 remaining.

But, the attempted onside kick failed to reach its 10-yard goal and the ball trickled out of bounds. Three Grossmont plays later, the game was over.

OCC returns to action on Saturday at Saddleback College, beginning at 6 p.m.