Analyse This

Tony Altobelli

For those of you that didn’t make it to Saturday night’s football

game between Orange Coast College and Pasadena City, I have only one

thing to say:

“Neener neener neener!!!”

This game had everything but a human sacrifice take place in its 60

minutes.

Let’s recap: nearly 1,000 yards of passing and rushing offense between

the two schools, hard-hitting defense, late-game dramatics, and more

penalties and ejections than a typical Red Wings-Avalanche NHL game.

Oh sure, the game had all the finesse of a train wreck, but it was

sure fun to watch and well worth the trip.

Sorry you missed it.

In addition to the obvious heroes for the Pirates, there were some

supporting characters who proved large in the Bucs’ 29-26 win over the

Lancers.

Hero I: On what seemed to be a normal extra-point attempt, Pirates’

sophomore Doug McDaniel broke up the middle for the block, which, in turn

forced the Lancers to go for two on their next score, which they missed.

OCC won by an extra point and a two-point conversion, mainly due to

that block.

Hero II: OCC’s defense. After four weeks of ridicule, the Pirates’ “D”

stepped up and played a HUGE role in the victory.

First, there are the three interceptions, the first leading to OCC’s

first points of the game.

Next, late in the game with Pasadena holding on to a five-point lead,

the OCC defense managed to stop the Lancers on three plays, giving the

ball back to OCC.

One first down and the game is over, but the Bucs hung tough and it

paid off.

Included in the heroes, there were also some serious brain-stoppers on

the part of Pasadena City, allowing the Pirates to win.

Bonehead I: Coach Tom Maher or whoever is charge to saying the words,

“TIME OUT!”

After OCC took the lead, Pasadena got the ball back, with 58 seconds

remaining and ALL three timeouts.

Trying to fool the entire galaxy, Pasadena decided to throw three

straight passes up the middle of the field gaining 18 yards, which is

fine, because they had three timeouts.

One problem: they didn’t use any of them.

The clock ran out and a big Homer Simpson-esque “Duh,” was heard

throughout the Lancers’ locker room afterward.

Sorry coach, you can’t take’em home with you.

Bonehead II: Lancers’ running back Blair Lewis. OCC, trailing by five

with less than three minutes remaining, needed to stop the Lancers on the

Pirates’ 35-yard line and then burn their three timeouts to salvage the

clock.

Lewis decided to be rather hospitable and not only did he lose

valuable yardage, but he RAN OUT OF BOUNDS.

That brain-cramp saved a grateful Pirates a timeout, which they used

to set up their game-winning touchdown on the following possession.

In fact, the fastest Blair ran all night was from that sideline back

to the huddle before Maher could rip his “bone” head off.

Once again, “Duh.”

For OCC, “Woo-hoo!”