Yessner Leads El Camino to 23-19 Victory Over L.B. City

There isn’t much of El Camino quarterback Scott Yessner to appreciate. The sophomore from Redondo Union High School stands only 5 feet, 9 inches.

But this season the 190-pound Yessner has played as big as Hercules, helping the Warriors win every game in which he’s started or appeared.

He started Saturday at El Camino’s Murdock Stadium in place of the injured Frank Dolce and again corralled a win for the Warriors, this time a 23-19 Mission Conference victory over Long Beach City College.

The win, El Camino’s fourth straight, clinched at least a tie for the Northern Division championship and boosted the Warriors to 6-1-1 overall, 5-1-1 in conference play.

Yessner completed 17 of 29 passes for 200 yards, including a touchdown toss to Bryan Burnett (7 catches, 112 yards) against the third-best defense in the Mission Conference.

“That is the best defense we faced,” Yessner said, “and we felt we could move the ball. But we can definitely do better.”

The Warriors complemented Yessner with 104 yards on the ground, despite the absence of starting tailback Neil Tuihalamaka, who was suspended for his involvement in an on-campus fight last Saturday.

The Warriors erased a 13-10 halftime deficit when Aaron Craver capped a 12-yard drive with a 1-yard dive 10 minutes into the third quarter.

Craver scored again from 1 yard out with 12:46 left in the game, and Dominic Cefalone’s extra-point kick made it 23-13.

Long Beach (4-3-1, 4-2-1) charged 94 yards on its last series to make the final score close, but before the drive the Vikings managed only 98 yards of offense. And they turned the ball over twice on interceptions and twice on fumbles.

“Long Beach came out fired up, but our defense has a lot of pride,” said El Camino Coach John Featherstone. “The guys got a feel for what (Long Beach) was doing and stopped them.”

El Camino could have forced a 13-13 tie at the half but Cefalone missed a 38-yard field goal attempt after the Warriors had recovered a Long Beach fumble at the Vikings’ 22.

The Warriors were able to capitalize when Long Beach fumbled on the first play of its first possession. Cefalone’s 42-yard field goal capped a 5-play drive.

Long Beach’s next two possessions featured two markedly different running games. First, quarterback Damon Johnson scored on a 49-yard scramble, and then the Vikings used four short gains beginning on the Warrior 10 to make it 13-3.

The Warriors closed to 13-10 when Yessner connected with Burnett for 38-yard first-down bomb and a 10-yard touchdown strike. Cefalone’s point-after kick was good.