Football: Pirates look to stop Palomar

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - There appears to be an amnesia problem with Orange

Coast College as they look to forget last week’s 52-6 loss to Santa Ana

and focus on powerhouse Palomar today at 1 p.m. at OCC.

“That’s old news,” Coach Mike Taylor said referring to last week’s

setback. “During this past week, we’ve solved some things and we’ve had

some good practices. Last week is in the past. We got through it and

we’re ready to go at it again.”

With a combination of a grind-it-out style of offense and a smashmouth

defense, Palomar College, ranked No. 1 in the country by the J.C.

Grid-Wire, appears to have all the tools needed to be a championship

club.

“They don’t seem to be as flashy on offense as they have been in the

past,” Taylor said. “They look to be more of a pounding style, running

more than passing.”

Comet quarterback Greg Cicero, a transfer from the University of Texas

started slowly, but last week he threw for 234 yards on 15 of 23 passing with three touchdowns in their 28-14 win over Mt. San Antonio College.

Taylor believes that the strength to the Comets is their defense,

which leads the Mission Conference with allowing only 186 yards of total

offense to their opponents.

“That group is real aggressive on defense,” Taylor said. “We’re going

to have to play one of our best games of the year to have a chance

against them.”

The Pirates will have to keep an eye on a couple of Comet defenders,

Garrett Pavelko and Ricky Hayes.

Pavelko had seven tackles (four unassisted) with an interception and

two pass deflections, while Hayes had eight tackles (three unassisted)

and an interception last week against Mt. SAC.

Palomar will have their defensive hands full going up against Pirates

quarterback Jared Flint and the conference’s top passing offense with 279

yards per game.

For Flint to be successful, he must get ample time in the pocket, like

he did against Saddleback in the Pirates’ 42-25 win two weeks ago.

“Last week, it seemed that Jared never had that extra second to find

that open guy,” Taylor said. “Santa Ana did a great job penetrating our

line and making Jared scramble.”

Another way to help out the air attack is an effective ground game,

something that was missing in last week’s loss.

This won’t be easy as the Comets have allowed only 56 yards per game

rushing against their opponents.

“We’re not going to be able to pound it out against Palomar,” Taylor

said. “What we need to do is have solid basics and we have to control the

clock and keep the ball out of their hands.”

The Comets (3-0) take a 10-game winning streak into their contest with

the Pirates (2-1).

Palomar has won three straight head-to-head meetings with Orange

Coast, the last coming last year in a 42-17 win.

In that game Flint completed only 18 of 48 passes for 203 yards while

the Comets’ offense exploded for 565 yards of total offense.

Orange Coast leads the series with Palomar, 8-7.