No. 2 El Camino Confident of Beating No. 15

Although El Camino football Coach John Featherstone wasn’t thrilled about getting a bye after one game, he feels his squad, ranked No. 2 in the state, is ready to beat 15th-ranked Orange Coast College (1-0) in Saturday’s 7 p.m. Mission Conference opener at Orange Coast.

“It’s going to be our first real major challenge this season,” Featherstone said, “because they’re an excellent football team. They execute very well on offense and they’re very physical on defense. But we’re pretty happy about our whole package offensively. We’re going to stay balanced and hopefully get the job done.”

Frank Dolce, who alternated every quarter with Scott Yessner in the Warriors’ season opener against L.A. Harbor, will start at quarterback. The 6-1, 200-pound sophomore completed 6 of 15 passes for 83 yards and 1 touchdown in El Camino’s 42-25 defeat of the Seahawks.

With four all-conference running backs, El Camino shouldn’t have problems moving the ball on the ground. Sophomore Aaron Craver (6 feet, 215 pounds), who had 73 of the Warriors’ 124 yards rushed against Harbor, is expected to carry the ball often.

But Orange Coast, which defeated Rio Hondo, 39-14, last week, also has a strong, balanced offense.

Sophomore quarterback Mike Angelovic, a CIF Big 5 Conference co-player of the year from Edison High School, completed 9 of 19 passes for 79 yards and 2 touchdowns against Rio Hondo.

“He’s a real solid player,” Featherstone said. “He’s a short, little quarterback, but he does some good things. He runs that offense really well.”

Orange Coast’s top running back is sophomore Brian George, who had 110 of the Pirates 212 rushing yards against Rio Hondo.

“Right now our defense is better than our offense,” said Orange Coast Coach Bill Workman. “That’s good because they always seem to gain a bunch of yards. They look awfully good. They’re really blessed with a lot of good offense.”

L.A. Harbor may get its first win by playing host to Pierce College in Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. game. The unranked Seahawks (0-2) won’t be fresh since they took a 33-14 beating from top-ranked Taft College last week.

“We were 100% improved from our first game,” Coach Chris Ferragamo said. “Pierce has a young ballclub and I think they’re making mistakes as we are. I just hope that we can block and tackle.”

Harbor’s quarterback Eddie Lopez has done a good job of running the offense. The 6-2, 205 pound sophomore passed for 215 yards last week and 263 in Harbor’s first game against El Camino.

“We saw them against Taft,” said first year Pierce Coach Bob Enger, “and they’re physically very strong. They scare us.”

Pierce has an inexperienced, all-freshman squad since there’s been no football at the school for two years. The Brahmas lost (20-7) their season opener to East L.A. College and had a bye last week.

Quarterback Ronnie Lopez, who completed 12 of 30 passes, against East L.A., lacks experience, but Enger will have him throw a lot against Harbor because Pierce lacks a strong running game.

“My job is that of a teacher,” Enger said. “We’re just trying to get better every week and hopefully be able to beat a team or two along the way.”