Upended in showdown
COSTA MESA — Immediately after the last play ended, most of the Golden West College football players sprinted toward the north end zone, where the perpetual victory bell trophy awaited the winner of the annual showdown with rival Orange Coast College.
And, for once, the OCC secondary did not have to give pursuit.
Chasing was required of the Pirates’ defensive backs during virtually all the big plays produced by the Rustlers, who registered all but one of their points in a 33-17 triumph via the pass.
Golden West freshman quarterback Raymond Huizar threw five touchdown passes and a two-point conversion to help the designated home team rally from first-half deficits.
Huizar, who completed 13 of 20 passes for 217 yards without an interception, had scoring tosses of 43, 20 and 17 yards. He also burned OCC for aerial gains of 41 and 38 yards.
In addition, Golden West punter Steven Santana’s only completion went for 37 yards on a fake punt, further exposing the soft spot in an otherwise stout OCC defense.
The Pirates (2-7, 1-2 in the East Division) sacked Huizar six times to help limit the Rustlers to 65 rushing yards on 34 attempts. But only one of those sacks came after halftime, as Huizar connected on eight of his 10 second-half aerials to produce the Rustlers’ first win over their district rival since 2006.
The first win over OCC in the four-year tenure of Golden West Coach Nick Mitchell also pushed the Rustlers (5-4, 2-2) back ahead in the series, which was knotted at 20-20-2, heading into Saturday’s 43rd edition.
And while OCC freshman quarterback A.J. Josue completed 16 of 32 passes, none gained more than 19 yards. Josue finished with 136 yards passing and threw two interceptions to give the Pirates 20 for the season. Golden West, however, failed to cash either interception into points.
Josue and fellow freshman Zach Emde, who misfired on three pass attempts in relief, were victimized by six Rustlers sacks, including one that delivered a crushing blow to Emde to knock him out of the game.
Josue opened the scoring with a 19-yard hookup to Brandon Estrada that capped a five-play, 35-yard drive.
Justin Vandeman’s conversion put OCC up, 7-0, with 8:21 left in the first quarter.
The first OCC turnover, a fumble on a botched handoff that Golden West linebacker Santana returned 21 yards to the OCC 13-yard line, helped the Rustlers get on the scoreboard as Huizar found sophomore Aldodius Colquitt for the first of their three scoring connections, this one from two yards out with 10:21 left in the first half.
The conversion kick went wide right to allow OCC to retain the lead, which the Pirates extended on a 31-yard Vandeman field goal with seven seconds left before intermission.
The 10-6 halftime lead was bigger than any of the victory margins OCC had posted against the Rustlers the last three seasons, but it didn’t last long.
Two plays after Andrew Williams went 26 yards with a lateral pass on the opening play of Golden West’s second possession after intermission, Huizar found Peter Adams in the seam for a 43-yard touchdown. The second of three failed conversion attempts kept the score at 12-10 with 10:00 left in the third quarter.
Bernard Williams blocked Vandeman’s 43-yard field-goal try on the ensuing possession and the Rustlers parlayed the aforementioned fake punt into another Huizar to Colquitt touchdown toss to make it 18-10 with 4:26 left in the third quarter.
Huizar rounded out his stellar night with two scoring passes on his team’s first two possessions of the final period and OCC softened the blow by scoring with seven seconds left.
The 16-point deficit was the most lopsided OCC loss in the series since a 28-6 setback in 1997.
“Golden West is an OK team that played hard and deserved to win,” Taylor said.
Golden West 33, Orange Coast 17
SCORE BY QUARTERS
OCC 7 – 3 – 0 – 7 — 17
GWC 0 – 6 – 12 – 15 — 33
FIRST QUARTER
OCC – Estrada 19 pass from Josue (Vandeman kick), 8:21.
SECOND QUARTER
GWC – Colquitt 2 pass from Ray. Huizar (kick failed), 10:21.
OCC – Vandeman 31 FG, 0:06.
THIRD QUARTER
GWC – Adams 43 pass from Ray. Huizar (pass failed), 10:00.
GWC – Colquitt 20 pass from Ray. Huizar (run failed), 4:26.
FOURTH QUARTER
GWC – Colquitt 17 pass from Ray. Huizar (Dotson pass from Ray. Huizar), 12:51.
GWC – Spencer 2 pass from Ray. Huizar (Fahringer kick), 9:01.
OCC – Doll 4 pass from Josue (Vandeman kick), 0:07.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
OCC – Chimphalee 12-53.
GWC – H. Williams, 10-52.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
OCC – Josue, 16-32-2, 136 , 2 TDs.
GWC – Ray. Huizar, 13-20-0, 217, 5 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
OCC – Estrada, 5-47, 1 TD.
GWC – Cohen, 6-60, 3 TDs.