Pirates fall, but improve

Following his team’s second loss in as many games this season, Orange Coast College football coach Kevin Emerson said he had a rock in his stomach yet again.

But after the Pirates battled visiting Cerritos, ranked No. 6 in the state, down to the wire in a 34-31 nonconference setback on Saturday, Emerson noted that that rock may represent a cornerstone upon which to build for the rest of the season.

Sophomore quarterback Mason Dossey, making his first start, threw for 406 yards, nine yards shy of the OCC single-game record set by Cameron Biedgoly in 2012, to help the Pirates (0-2), nearly double their offensive production from a 41-16 season-opening loss at Chaffey.

Sophomore receiver Stefan Derrick had 10 receptions for 202 yards, including touchdowns of 60 and 36 yards, and the hosts amassed 502 yards of total offense and had the ball in Cerritos territory on the final snap.

After falling behind, 34-23, with 5:49 left in a game that featured four lead changes, OCC closed within a field goal after Derrick’s 36-yard touchdown catch with 4:47 left capped a five-play, 71-yard match that lasted just more than a minute. Derrick then hauled in Dossey’s two-point conversion pass and OCC’s defense forced a punt after the ensuing kickoff to gain possession at its own 28-yard line with 54 seconds left.

After a sack, two Dossey completions moved the ball to the Cerritos 44, and after killing the clock on the subsequent snap, 15 seconds remained to get in field-goal position. But when the shotgun snap evaded Dossey on the next play, the clock expired before OCC could run another play, leaving it agonizingly short of a chance at the upset, or at least overtime.

“I think we discovered an identity,” said Emerson, who told Dossey on Friday that the Humboldt State bounce-back had displaced incumbent starter Kody Whitaker, with whom he shared time in the opener, to earn the starting job. “We knew we had a good team we were facing and we were with them through tooth and nail. We said we had four days to improve [after Chaffey] and I have to hand it to my team. I think they did go out and improve and we brought everything we had today.”

OCC had substantially more on offense in its second game, outgaining the Falcons by 39 yards and besting the visitors in first downs, 27-25.

After producing just 268 yards on 72 offensive plays against Chaffey (a 3.62-yard average), the Pirates averaged 6.97 yards on 72 offensive snaps on Saturday.

Dossey completed 27 of 36 passes without an interception and threw for three touchdowns.

“Mason did a really good job of reading and delivering the ball,” Emerson said. “Bottom line is, he managed the offense and did it very well.”

Dossey hit Marcus Durham for a 36-yard touchdown that gave OCC a 13-7 lead with 1:05 left in the first half.

But Cerritos regained momentum by capping a seven-play, 66-yard march on its ensuing possession with a 38-yard touchdown pass from Jimmy Walker to De’Jai Whitaker in the back of the end zone on fourth down as the first half expired.

“The end of the first half was a tough one,” said Emerson, whose team came up just inches shy of a first down at the one-yard line on fourth-and-three late in the first quarter. Emerson elected to go for it, rather than attempt a 21-yard field goal.

But a 60-yard scoring hookup between Dossey and Derrick capped an eight-play, 88-yard drive after OCC took the second-half kickoff to give the hosts a 20-14 lead.

But Whitaker, who had eight catches for 182 yards, fielded the second of his three touchdown catches to give Cerritos, which blocked OCC’s second conversion-kick attempt, a 21-20 advantage midway though the third quarter.

Walker finished 25 of 37 for 376 yards, but OCC freshman safety Brandon Worthy intercepted a Walker pass at his own goal line to turn the Falcons away early in the second quarter.

Another Falcons possession ended in a missed 29-yard field-goal try in the first quarter.

OCC held the Falcons to 91 yards rushing on 39 attempts and halted Cerritos ballcarriers at or behind the line of scrimmage 11 times, including sacks by defensive ends Preston Hendry and Cody Meddaugh.

“Obviously we’re disappointed with the outcome, but as an offense, we’ve definitely made strides and improved a lot, which is so good to see,” said Dossey, who was sacked five times, four coming in the second half.

Emerson echoed his quarterback’s assessment.

“We’ll compete with anybody,” said Emerson, now 3-9 at OCC. “We need to continue to work hard, but we proved something today. We had a rally to get a chance to win the game, but we just came up short today.”

OCC plays host to Moorpark on Saturday at 6 p.m.

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Cerritos 34, Orange Coast 31

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Cerritos 7 7 14 6 – 34

OCC 0 13 7 11 – 31

FIRST QUARTER

Cer – Whitaker 48 pass from Walker (Plooster kick), 12:27.

SECOND QUARTER

OCC – White 7 run (Bjurman kick), 11:51.

OCC – Durham 31 pass from Dossey (kick blocked), 1:05.

Cer – D. Gordon 38 pass from Walker (Plooster kick), 0:00.

THIRD QUARTER

OCC –Derrick 60 pass from Dossey (Bjurman kick), 11:20.

Cer – Whitaker 49 pass from Walker (Plooster kick), 6:20.

Cer – Whitaker 14 pass from Walker (Plooster kick), 0:28.

FOURTH QUARTER

OCC – Bjurman 41 FG, 10:34.

Cer – Holmes 2 run (kick failed), 5:49.

OCC – Derrick 36 pass from Dossey (Derrick pass from Dossey), 4:47.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

Cer – Holmes, 18-78.

OCC – Rodriguez, 14-60; White, 7-55, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

Cer – Walker, 25-37-1, 376, 4 TDs.

OCC – Dossey, 27-36-0, 406, 3 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

Cer – Whitaker, 8-182, 3 TDs.

OCC – Derrick, 10-202, 2 TDs.