Orange Coast College

Football: No treats for Pirates in loss to Gauchos

Saturday, October 31, 2009

COSTA MESA -- Not even a friendly environment or a holiday atmosphere could help the Orange Coast College football team on Saturday night as the Pirates fell to visiting Saddleback, 52-14 in SCFA National Division, Southern Conference action.

Even though it was Halloween on the calendar, the Pirates delivered several Christmas-like gifts to the Gauchos in the form of six turnovers, five of which led directly to 35 points for the Gauchos. In those five scoring "drives" one needed two plays to score, four needed just one and one was a direct touchdown off an interception.

Saddleback (7-2, 3-2 in conference) jumped out to a 31-0 lead on the Pirates (5-3, 1-3) before OCC running back Ray Holley capped off a seven-play, 65-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard TD run with 5:32 left in the half.

Coast had a chance to further chip into the deficit near the end of the half as quarterback Kyle Manning connected with Brandon Estrada on a 48-yard completion that got the Pirates down to Saddleback's 4-yard line, but time run out on the play, stalling the drive.

The Pirates opened the second half with their best drive of the night, marching down the field for 69 yards on 13 plays, capped off with another 1-yard TD run by Holley to make it 38-14.

From there, Coast tried to get back into the game through the air as Kyle Manning did his Peyton Manning impersonation, throwing the ball a record-tying 50 times (completing 19 for 231 yards and an interception). The 50 attempts by Manning tied the school's all-time record set by Alvin White in 1972 against Mt. San Antonio.

Unfortunately for Manning, on the game's final play, the sophomore from El Toro HS went back to pass, but was sacked to end the game, turning the pass attempt into a running attempt.

With Saddleback's defensive focus on Holley, the sophomore back was "held" to 96 yards on 29 carries with two TDs, giving him 1,144 rushing yards for the season. That number puts Holley at No. 5 all time for a single season, just 11 yards behind Tony Accomondo's 1,155 set in 1975 and just 298 behind Jeff Clayton's all-time total of 1,442, set in 1993.

Coast will return to LeBard Stadium on Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup with Palomar College.