COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Riverside Upsets No. 1 El Camino, 24-14

Riverside City College has a way of tarnishing El Camino’s dreams of perfection.

Last year the Warriors had a 10-0 record heading into the Orange County Bowl and lost to the Tigers, 21-14. On Saturday, Riverside defeated the Warriors, 24-14, in a Mission Conference game that snapped El Camino’s four-game winning streak.

The Warriors, ranked No. 1 in the nation by the JC Grid-Wire, dropped to 4-1 and 2-1 in conference play. Riverside, which dropped to No. 14 in the state after losing to Long Beach City College, 30-28, last week, is 3-1, 2-1. The Tigers won without their top running back, John Peoples, who suffered a shoulder injury in the loss to Long Beach.

El Camino’s offense had its worst outing of the season. Quarterback Rod Harvey completed less than 50% of his pass attempts in the first half and finished 19 of 32 for 210 yards. He threw one interception and was sacked three times.

Freshman running back Anthony Daigle scored the Warriors’ two touchdowns and rushed for 93 yards on 19 carries.

El Camino’s offense didn’t get going until midway through the second quarter. The Warriors gained only 49 yards in their first five possessions and didn’t score until Daigle eluded two tacklers for a 30-yard touchdown run with seven minutes left in the second quarter.

Riverside’s first touchdown came with 9:32 left in the first quarter. Freshman quarterback Jack Manu ran 16 yards for the score.

The Tigers scored on their next two possessions for a 17-7 halftime lead. Manu passed 41 yards to sophomore Ron Williams for a touchdown freshman Jeff McDaniel added a 32-yard field goal.

Daigle’s four-yard touchdown run with 8:28 left in the third quarter cut Riverside’s lead to 17-14, but the Tigers answered with Samita Vaofi’s 12-yard touchdown run for a 24-14 lead.

Santa Monica 31, Harbor 7--The Corsairs were as dominant in this Western State Conference game as they’ve been throughout the all-time series between the schools, easily defeating the host Seahawks at Casey Field for the 18th time in 24 meetings.

Santa Monica (3-1, 2-1) took a 17-point lead in the first quarter on its way to the victory.

Sophomore quarterback Jeff Barrett had touchdown passes of 10 yards to Turhon O’Bannon and 65 yards to Jason Lucky in the first quarter and threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Greg Hooks early in the second quarter. He also scored on a one-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Harbor (2-2, 1-2) scored on a 42-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Glenn Baham to wide receiver Cedric Jenkins on the second play of the fourth quarter.

Harbor’s leading rusher, Bill Harris, was held to only six yards on six carries.

Santa Monica running back John Haqq led all rushers with 94 yards on 11 carries.

The Seahawks haven’t beaten the Corsairs since 1974, and have won only twice in the series since 1954.