Griffins overwhelm Pirates
El CAJON — Any thoughts that the Orange Coast College football team was building on a potentially special season were likely washed away by a deluge of 35 straight points by host Grossmont Saturday.
Grossmont rallied from a 10-0 deficit to earn a 49-31 conquest in a game between highly regarded teams that both came in 1-0 in the Southern Conference.
The Griffins (4-1, 2-0 in conference), ranked No. 5 in Southern California and No. 13 in the state, extended their winning streak over OCC to five.
The Pirates (3-2, 1-1), who entered on a three-game winning streak, were ranked No. 8 in Southern California, No. 17 in the state and No. 30 in the JCGridiron.com national poll coming in.
Things looked good for the Pirates early, when they scored on their first two possessions and appeared to have the Griffins on their heels.
Sophomore Jackson Dionne kicked a 45-yard field goal to cap the game-opening possession and, after the Pirates recovered a Grossmont fumble four plays into the Griffins’ first possession, the visitors drove 79 yards on four plays to take a 10-0 lead.
But OCC failed to score on its next 11 possessions and the Griffins used big plays through the air and on the ground to overcome what had been the conference’s leading scoring defense.
Grossmont’s first two scores were a 37-yard touchdown run by Treyous Jarrells and a 42-yard reception by Traivonne Brown, within a span of 24 seconds, to turn the tide for good.
The aforementioned touchdowns came before and after a fumble by OCC sophomore tailback Robert Penny that was the first of four Pirates’ turnovers.
The Pirates forced three Grossmont turnovers and recovered an onside kickoff late in the contest. And while the visitors moved the ball sufficiently to produce 504 yards of total offense, they were stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage 18 times, including 17 running plays and five sacks.
Grossmont sophomore outside linebacker Ian Seau, a Kansas State transfer and the nephew of the late NFL great Junior Seau, was in on three of those sacks, two of which he made without assistance.
Grossmont’s persistent defensive penetration appeared to rattle starting quarterback Jon Newsom. Newsom did throw for 240 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but misfired on 17 of his 33 attempts, including one interception that ricocheted off his own receiver’s helmet.
“I’m sure it did,” OCC Coach Mike Taylor said when asked whether the Grossmont pressure disturbed some of his team’s offensive flow. “Seau is leading the state in sacks [now 13.5], so he is obviously a good guy off the edge.”
Penny finished with 131 yards on 24 rushing attempts to surpass the 100-yard mark for the fourth straight game.
Freshman Buzzy Yokoyama had seven receptions for 70 yards and two touchdowns and also averaged 32 yards on three kickoff returns, including a 42-yarder that led to an 11-play drive capped by a missed 33-yard field-goal try by Dionne midway through the second quarter.
OCC freshman cornerback Dylan Afusia had two interceptions.
Grossmont, which rallied from a 24-7 deficit to win at Santa Ana on Sept. 22, had scoring plays of 42, 37 and 33 yards and added aerial gains of 41 and 38 yards, as well as a 29-yard run to amass 526 yards of offense.
Seau and Griffins defensive end Peni Te’i each had 12 tackles, while Te’i collected a pair of sacks.
The Pirates will attempt to bounce back at home against College of the Desert on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5
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Grossmont 49, Orange Coast 31
SCORE BY QUARTERS
OCC 10 – 0 – 7 – 14 – 31
Grossmont 14 – 14 – 7 – 14 -- 49
FIRST QUARTER
OCC – Dionne 45 FG, 13:06.
OCC – Duncan 12 pass from Newsom (Dionne kick), 10:11.
Gros – Jarrells 37 run (Carrillo kick), 2:27.
Gros – Brown 42 pass from Bonner (Carrillo kick), 2:03.
SECOND QUARTER
Gros – Burki 12 pass from Bonner (Carrillo kick), 10:52.
Gros – Kurts 8 pass from Bonner (Carrillo kick), 1:01.
THIRD QUARTER
Gros – S. Edwards 8 run (Carrillo kick), 13:13.
OCC – Penny 30 run (Carrillo kick), 2:18.
FOURTH QUARTER
Gros – Cornist 33 run (Carrillo kick), 14:12.
OCC – Yokoyama 16 pass from Newsom (Dionne kick), 10:43.
Gros – Kimbrough 2 run (Carrillo kick), 6:58.
OCC – Yokoyama 5 pass from Biedgoly (Dionne kick), 3:37.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
OCC – Penny, 24-131, 1 TD.
Gros – Jarrells, 11-87, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
OCC – Newsom, 16-33-1, 240, 2 TDs.
Gros – Conner, 19-36-2, 255, 3 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
OCC – Yokoyama, 7-70, 2 TDs.
Gros – Kurts, 4-42, 1 TD.