THE COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Citrus 36, Orange Coast 26: Citrus College quarterback Erik Johnson connected on two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to deny the Pirates a share of the Mission Conference championship.

Orange Coast (8-2, 7-2) would have shared the conference title with Saddleback, but Johnson threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Mike Smith and an 81-yard touchdown pass to Todd Holmes to bring the Owls (3-7, 3-6) back from a 26-20 deficit.

The Pirates took the lead early in the fourth quarter on Bart Recktenwald’s 15-yard touchdown run. After Smith’s touchdown, quarterback Keith Jarrett drove Orange Coast to the Citrus 29-yard line, but Recktenwald fumbled and the Owls recovered to clinch the victory.

Jarrett completed 23 of 43 passes for 376 yards, an OCC single-game record, and had touchdown passes to Greg Gibson and Junior Tagaloa. The other Orange Coast touchdown came on Brad Rosenquist’s 11-yard run.