Sloppy OCC loses bowl game

Diablo Valley capitalizes on seven Pirates turnovers to claim 37-34 win in East County Bowl.PITTSBURG, Calif. -- The Orange Coast College football team’s most successful season in five years ended in frustration and defeat Saturday, as Diablo Valley claimed a 37-34 victory in the East County Bowl at Los Medanos College.

The Pirates (6-5) committed seven turnovers and surrendered a seven-point swing on their own conversion attempts to come up shy in their first bowl game since 2000.

Diablo Valley (7-4) returned two fumbles and one interception for touchdowns and added two more points by returning a blocked conversion kick to the end zone early in the third quarter.

Orange Coast, which lost three fumbles and threw four interceptions, misfired on two conversion kicks. The visitors also failed on a two-point conversion pass attempt and were victimized by the aforementioned blocked PAT.

Safety Nick Snowden was filling in at kicker for OCC. Kyle Vandenbos and Chad Brown, who kicked field goals and PATs for the Pirates this season, did not make the trip for unspecified reasons.

The mistakes were too much to overcome for the Pirates, which produced a 515-200 advantage in offensive yards. OCC had 29 first downs to the Vikings’ eight.

Orange Coast quarterbacks Kekoa Crowell and Chad Schmigel combined to throw 74 passes, as the Pirates ran a school-record 111 offensive plays.

Schmigel, who replaced Crowell after halftime, threw three touchdown passes and ran for another to help the Pirates cut into a 28-9 halftime deficit.

OCC receiver Damola Adeniji caught seven passes for 161 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown connection with Schmigel in the third quarter. Adeniji was named the game’s Most Valuable Offensive Player.

Schmigel completed 20 of 44 passes for 335 yards. He threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Eric Dietz with 38 seconds left. After OCC recovered the ensuing onside kickoff, Schmigel found A.J. Moskus for a 6-yard touchdown pass with four seconds left to finalize the scoring.

The OCC defense held the Vikings to 1 yard rushing. Defensive end Justin Williams was in on two of the Pirates’ four quarterback sacks and cornerback Chris Assily intercepted two passes.

Dennis Havrilla threw for 199 yards and two touchdowns for the Vikings.

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