Orange Coast College

PIRATES SHOOT DOWN COMETS!

Saturday, September 16, 2006

COSTA MESA - Stats schmats.
In a game that was statistically dominated by the Palomar Comets, the Orange Coast College football team managed to hold an advantage in the most vital category of'em all -- the final score.
Thanks to another dominating effort by the special teams and some timely offensive success down the stretch, the Pirates improved to 3-0 for the first time since 1991 with a 28-21 win over the visiting Comets on Saturday night at LeBard Stadium.
A well designed screen pass from quarterback Kekoa Crowell to running back Andrew Banks turned into a 41-yard touchdown with 3:46 left in the fourth quarter, giving the Pirates the lead for good.
While the high-octane Comets (2-1) lived up to the hype, several costly mistakes proved too much to overcome.
The Pirates' defense bent but didn't break throughout the game, making big third-down plays when they needed them the most. From there, the special teams took over, blocking three Comet punts in the second quarter -- two leading to touchdown-scoring drives for the Pirates.
The first block came off the hands of Chris Holmesly and was recovered on the Comets' 1-yard line. On the very next play, running back Jerell Cephas snuck into the end zone, giving the Pirates a 7-0 lead.
On Palomar's next series, a second Palomar punt off the foot of Jake Harry, found the outstretched hands of Holmesly for another block, this time giving the Bucs the ball on the Comets' 23-yard line.
Banks, who finished with 86 rushing yards on the night, took care of that short field position and scored on a 6-yard run three plays later, making it 14-0.
Palomar quarterback Tyler Lorenzen, who came into Saturday's game averaging 360 yards of total offense per game, showed off his arm and connected with Tobias Shanks for a 59-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 14-7 with 9:00 left in the first half.
But the Pirates again found the promised land when they wrapped up a four-play, 54-yard scoring drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by Banks to push the lead to 20-7 following a missed PAT.
The Pirates managed a third blocked punt in the quarter, but no points resulted from it. It was the first time since 1995 that the Pirates had two blocked punts in a game and there are no statistical records to show the Pirates ever blocking three in a game.
Palomar came out fired up to start the second half and began to control the ball and the tempo, grinding out a 12-play, 74-yard scoring drive that was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run by Lorenzen, who finished the night with 97 rushing yards and 123 passing yards.
Following an OCC turnover, the Comets again ate up a bunch of clock with a 16-play, 73-yard scoring drive that ended with a 4-yard TD run by Donnell Fulford. The successful PAT gave the Comets a 21-20 lead with 11:31 remaining in the game.
Two possessions later, a 30-yard Comet punt gave the Pirates the ball on their own 40 and it didn't take long to do something with the nice field position.
Five plays later, Crowell rolled to the right, turned and hit a wide-open Banks on the left sideline with a screen pass. The freshman, who scored 31 touchdowns as a senior at North Torrance High School, fought off a would-be tackler and marched into the end zone with 3:41 remaining. A 2-point pass from Crowell to George Raco pushed OCC's lead to 28-21 with 3:46 remaining.
Palomar's last series started deep in its own territory and ended even deeper as the Pirates' defense came up with big play after big play, forcing a Comet punt.
With only two timeouts, the Pirates managed to run out the final 1:31 off of the clock to end the game, snapping the Comets' five-game winning streak in the head-to-head series.
Palomar outgained the Pirates in total offense (360-198), total plays (74-42), first downs (21-9), rushing yards (237-118), passing yards (123-80) and time of possession (39:41 to 20:19).
OCC returns to LeBard Stadium next week to face Pasadena City. Kickoff is Saturday night, beginning at 5 p.m.