Football: OCC ends home campaign against Mounties.

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - Now the test truly begins.

After breaking through in the Mission Conference Northern Division win

column two weeks ago and after surviving against Long Beach City in six

overtimes, Orange Coast College’s football team takes on first-place Mt.

San Antonio College today at 1 p.m. in the final home game of the season

for the Pirates.

“I feel that these guys are the best team in our division,” Taylor

said of the Mounties. “They’re the cream of the crop. We’re going to have

to cash in on all our opportunities, while eliminating the big play on

defense.”

Both teams are coming off huge wins last week. OCC (4-4, 2-1 in the

Northern Division) needed six overtimes before knocking off last year’s

Northern Division champ Long Beach City, 48-42, while the Mounties (6-2,

3-0), defeated nationally ranked Cerritos, 19-9.

Mt. SAC enters today’s game ranked 12th in the nation, according to

the J.C. Grid-Wire poll, ranking first in the conference in total defense

and fourth in total offense.

“Mt. SAC has been on a roll as of late,” Taylor said. “They haven’t

lost since the Palomar game four weeks ago, so you know they’ll be ready

to go.”

The Mounties’ top total defense, which held Cerritos to only 47 yards

on the ground and 210 yards of total offense, will be put to the test

today against the No. 1 ranked passing offense of OCC, led by record

holder Jared Flint.

The sophomore quarterback set the all-time career passing mark in

Saturday’s win over LBCC, which now stands at 3,652, breaking the old

mark of 3,425 set by Alvin White in 1971-72.

Flint’s top go-to guys, Raymond Ohrel and David Castleton continue to

rank among the best in the conference.

Ohrel’s 53 catches ranks No. 1, as does Castleton’s 884 receiving

yards.

Tight end Ben Fredrickson leads the Pirates’ receivers with five

touchdown receptions.

The biggest question remains which OCC defense will show up? Will it

be the stingy, smashmouth group that held LBCC to one touchdown after

three quarters of football or the extremely generous bunch that gave up

truckloads of points to Santa Ana and Riverside.

“Mt. SAC has a real good passing game, like ours, so one of our major

priorities is to contain their quarterback,” Taylor said. “Plus, we can’t

afford a bunch of turnovers on offense like we did last week.”

The Mounties quarterback, Jeff Cordova, has thrown for over 1,000

yards and had 12 touchdown passes. His biggest target downfield is Andre

Cyrus, whose 23 yards per catch leads the Mission Conference.

It’s the 46th meeting between the Mounties and Pirates, with Mt. SAC

leading, 26-18-1. In fact, the Mounties have won seven in a row and 13 of

the last 15 against the Bucs, including a 39-9 decision last year.

“We’re a little dinged up, but after nine weeks of football, I’m sure

every team is dinged up,” Taylor said. “It should be an exciting game,

especially for our sophomores playing their last game at our stadium.”