Pirates remain winless

COSTA MESA — At its next home football game, Orange Coast College will honor the 1975 national championship team. And after a 46-10 drubbing at the hands of visiting Los Angeles Harbor Saturday night, OCC faithful are clearly pining for the nostalgia of the good old days.

Two Pirates quarterbacks were sacked seven times and, largely due to having to scramble for their well being, combined to throw four interceptions. OCC also lost two fumbles and also added to their habit of special teams breakdowns.

The passing woes, were compounded by a running game that has been in a season-long funk. OCC has been victimized by 18 sacks and compiled a measly 184 rushing yards in three games, all defeats.

Now 0-3 for the first time since the 2004 team opened 0-5, OCC has been outscored, 114-28, and scored three offensive touchdowns.

When asked how he would assess his team’s performance, OCC Coach Mike Taylor didn’t hesitate.

“Not good,” he said.

But when asked to point out any positive(s), Taylor paused briefly.

“I’d have to look at the film,” he said.

Taylor, however, did not need a video review to compare his talent to that of the Seahawks (2-1), ranked No. 21 in the state.

“They’ve got some athletes and obviously we don’t,” Taylor said. “We don’t have a No. 1 in our program.”

Taylor did commend his defense in the first half, when the Pirates recovered two fumbles (one in their own end zone), held on downs and benefitted from a missed 32-yard field-goal try to limit the halftime deficit to 14-0.

But any hope of some second-half momentum for the hosts were quickly squelched by the Seahawks, who scored on the first play after the second-half kickoff.

Ryan Hyman turned a slant pass into a 70-yard catch-and-run to make it 21-0 and the visitors scored on their next two possessions to up the lead to 32-0 midway through the third period.

Freshman A.J. Josue made his first start at quarterback for OCC. He completed 10 of 18 for 83 yards with one interception, but at 5-foot-9, 175 pounds, was submerged in a pass rush that sacked him five times.

Freshman Zach Emde came off the bench to complete seven of 18 for 91 yards with three interceptions, the last of which was returned 93 yards for a touchdown with seven seconds left.

Emde scored the Pirates’ lone touchdown on a seven-yard scramble and led the hosts with 31 yards on seven carries, including two sacks.

Keali’i Doll had five receptions for 31 yards to pace 11 Pirates’ pass-catchers.

Sophomore outside linebacker Eric Wiersma had an interception and sophomore tackle Isaiah Reupena was in on both OCC sacks.

The Pirates did produce 23 first downs, to just 14 by the Seahawks, whose team speed made methodical drives unnecessary.

The visitors had receptions gain 79, 60, 25 and 25 yards and produced pickups of 44, 23, 19 and 18 on running plays. They also had a 59-yard punt return for a touchdown and the aforementioned 93-yard pick six.

L.A. Harbor 46, Orange Coast 10

SCORE BY QUARTERS

L.A. Harbor 0 – 14 – 18 –14 — 46

Orange Coast 0 – 0 – 0 – 10 — 10

SECOND QUARTER

LAH – West 59 punt return (Merced kick), 10:02.

LAH – Hill 25 pass from Dayton (Merced kick), 3:38.

THIRD QUARTER

LAH – Hyman 70 pass from Dayton (Merced kick), 14:42.

LAH – Merced 18 FG, 7:59.

LAH – White 19 run (Dayton run), 7:05.

FOURTH QUARTER

OCC – Emde 11 run (Vandeman kick), 13:54.

OCC – Vandeman 24 FG, 3:38.

LAH – West 44 run (Merced kick), 2:11.

LAH – Sala 93 interception return (Merced kick), 0:07.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

LAH – White, 8-60, 1 TD.

OCC – Emde, 7-31, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

LAH – Dayton11-23-1, 237 , 2 TDs.

OCC – Josue, 10-18-1, 83; Emde, 7-18-3, 91.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

LAH – Hyman, 2-95, 1 TD.

OCC – Doll, 5-31.