Community College Notebook : Bryant Wins State Rushing Title With a Flourish

Blaise Bryant went into Golden West College’s final game with a 19-yard lead over Leonard Russell of Mt. San Antonio in the race for the state rushing title.

Bryant, a sophomore from Cypress High School, had been the leader for 4 weeks, but Russell had been drawing closer each game.

But Bryant made the title chase almost a moot point by gaining 330 yards in 46 carries as Golden West defeated Riverside, 31-24, Friday. Bryant had 124 yards in 17 carries at halftime, and added 206 yards in 29 carries in the second half. His longest run was 36 yards, and he had 14 carries of 10 or more yards.

Russell gained 150 yards in a 15-14 loss to Pasadena City.

“I figured I had more like 200 yards or a little more than that,” Bryant said Monday. “When I came to the sidelines and someone said I had 330, I thought there was no way. It was amazing.”

Bryant, who missed the final minute because of a mild hip pointer, finished the season with a single-season county, school and conference record 1,691 yards in 334 attempts.

Bryant injured his ankle as a freshman last season, but still gained 801 yards in 7 games. His career total of 2,492 yards was second best in Orange County. Tony Whipple of Saddleback ran for 2,847 yards in 1969 and ’70.

“We would have a first-and-22, call all running plays and get it,” Bryant said. “It was our goal to finish on top in rushing. The offensive line and fullback Lee Miller really got into it. Riverside started rotating linebackers because he was killing them every time.”

Bryant was so dominating in the second half that Golden West tried only one pass and quarterback Joe Napoli was sacked.

“If I had to guess I would have said he (Bryant) ran it something like 55 times,” Golden West Coach Ray Shackleford said. “I thought I had killed him. I was afraid he might not be able to run the ball ever again he ran it so much.”

Bryant came to Golden West late in August before his freshman season in 1987. He had planned to go to the University of Hawaii but was academically ineligible.

He is being recruited by several colleges, including Washington, Oregon State, Oregon and Fresno State.

“I started the season a little slow,” Bryant said. “It just took me a while to get into it. But once I did, everything went pretty well.”

The Golden West women’s volleyball team is top-seeded in the Southern California Regional playoffs, but won’t play until Nov. 29. Golden West will play the winner of tonight’s El Camino-Palomar match at El Camino.

Fullerton reached the playoffs as a wild-card team and plays at Santa Barbara tonight. The winner plays at second-seeded Grossmont Nov. 29. Cuesta and Citrus are the third- and fourth-seeded teams in Southern California.

Four teams from the South and four from the North qualify for the state tournament, which is Dec. 2 and 3 at San Jose City College.

Community College Notes

The Rancho Santiago wrestling team (5-1) needs a victory over Cerritos (5-0-1) Wednesday to win its second consecutive South Coast Conference title. The match is at 7:30 p.m. at Rancho Santiago. The South wrestling team defeated the North, 20-13, Saturday at Cuesta College. Leo Garand of Cypress won at 190 pounds and Hossein Kalabi of Rancho Santiago won at heavyweight in the final 2 matches to clinch the victory for the South, coached by Gary de Beaubien of Rancho Santiago. . . . Scott Miller caught 8 passes for 178 yards Saturday to end the regular season with 78 catches for 1,376 yards. Miller tied the Saddleback and career-reception record of 138 set by Bret Mersola in 1985-86. . . . When Jason McGehee (107 yards) and Tyler Riddell (105) both rushed for more than 100 yards in Orange Coast’s 29-19 upset of Rancho Santiago Saturday, it was the first time a pair of OCC backs had rushed for more than 100 yards in the same game since Jeff Thayer (103) and Phil Spiller (101) did it in 1964.