Football: Bucs head to Pasadena

Tony Altobelli

PASADENA - Orange Coast College continues its Orange Empire

Conference Northern Division competition tonight at 7 at Pasadena City

College.

The Lancers are 4-2 overall, 0-1 in conference, including 3-0 at their

new home, Lancer Stadium, while the Pirates, after winning their first

two games, have dropped four straight, including the conference opener to

Cerritos last week, 48-17.

Despite the loss to the Falcons, the offensive stars for the Pirates

still managed to put up some solid numbers against one of the toughest

defenses in the Southland.

However, despite the game falling on the eve of Halloween, coach Mike

Taylor does not see future trickery on the offensive side like last week.

“We’re going to concentrate on making sure guys are lined up where

they should be, solid blocking, that sort of thing,” Taylor said.

Quarterback Jared Flint threw for over 200 yards, running back Jimmie

Banks rushed for 114 yards on 17 carries and wide receiver David

Castleton caught a school record-tying 11 passes for 123 yards.

Flint is second in the conference with 111 completions and third with

1,435 passing yards with 10 touchdowns.

Castleton’s six catches per game leads the conference, while his 598

receiving yards is second overall.

Banks ranks sixth in rushing yards per game at 65.7, while averaging

six yards per carry.

One thing the Bucs will have to do is improve their disposition

heading into halftime.

The Pirates have been outscored, 106-33 in the first half of their

four losses, something that will have to change heading into Pasadena.

“They have a pretty good club, athletically,” Taylor said. “There have

been games I’ve seen where they have looked real good and there have been

games where they’ve gotten blown out, so it’s going to be interesting.”

On paper, the best way to fix that problem is to shut down the

Lancers’ ground game, which is led by sophomores Blair Lewis and Andre

Ward, both in the Top 10 in rushing yards per game.

“They don’t have a lot of flashy guys over there, but from top to

bottom, they are balanced,” Taylor said.

Pasadena’s passing attack is shared with freshmen Josh Knight and

Kenny Smith.

The duo has combined for nine touchdowns on only three interceptions.

Look for sophomores Andre Cummings and L.J. Martin to be the lead

recipients of whoever throws the ball for the Lancers.

Each teams’ strengths will be going head to head as OCC’s passing

attack, ranked No. 2 in the conference goes up against PCC’s

second-ranked pass defense.

Look for the Pirates to pick up the tempo of the game offensively to

try to take some of the wind out of the Lancers’ defense, which ranks

fourth overall.

“They have some big, bulky guys up front, so we might take advantage

of that with some no-huddle,” Taylor said.

On the defensive, the Pirates will be without one of their leaders,

Joe Forkert, who suffered a broken ankle in practice and will be replaced

by Johnny Garcia.

“He was probably our most consistent player on the defensive side of

the ball and he will be missed,” Taylor said.

If the defense can keep the game close, OCC has a chance to win its

first Northern Division contest, since joining the division last year.

“We’re a ball club that has to score at least 28 points a game in

order to win,” Taylor said. “That’s just the way it is in college

football.”

Taylor also does not expect the longer than average trip to Pasadena

to be a factor for his club.

“We’ve had a better week of practice and I don’t think the early leave

will be that big a deal. Besides, our guys wanna win and we’re gonna be

ready to go.”

The Lancers lead the head-to-head series, 5-3, including a 35-20 win

over the Pirates last year.

In the game, OCC led, 20-6, but could not hold onto the lead as

Pasadena scored 29 straight points for the win.

In a stat not worthy of repeating this season, both teams combined for

21 penalties for 227 yards in the contest.