ORANGE COUNTY BOWL : OCC’s Goddard Prepares by Doing Homework

The fact that linebacker Ernie Goddard leads the Orange Coast College football team in tackles really isn’t a surprise. It’s like the kid who studies hardest getting the best grade on a test.

While Goddard’s teammates spend Sundays recuperating from the previous night’s game, he is at OCC, sitting at a computer and punching in information about the next opponent. Goddard’s task is to enter each play the opponent has run for the past three games.

“While I’m sitting there,” said Goddard, 20, “I start to notice patterns, and I can remember them pretty easy afterwards. You just start to pick things up.”

Goddard and the OCC defense will have a tough assignment at 7 tonight when the Pirates (8-2) play El Camino (8-2) in the second game of the Orange County Bowl doubleheader. Pasadena (8-2) and Riverside (8-2) meet at 1 p.m.

When Goddard, who has 88 tackles at inside linebacker, finishes his work at the keyboard, he still has film to watch. He reviews three games.

Goddard was a part-time player last season, but he was amazed he was playing football at all. After his senior season at St. Pius X High School in Crystal City, Mo., in 1988, he went to the College of St. Francis in Joliet, Ill., and was redshirted.

While sitting out, he decided he was tired of football and transferred to Southwest Missouri State to be closer to home.

“I didn’t think I would ever play again,” he said. “But I was listening to my friends, and they would just sit around and talk about high school games, and I didn’t want to have to brag about what I did in high school, so I decided to try again.”

This time, he looked west to Southern California, where he had previously lived. Goddard had played sophomore football at Edison High School in 1985 and was moved to the varsity for the playoffs by Coach Bill Workman, who went to OCC the next season.

Goddard contacted Workman and decided to move back to Fountain Valley, where his father lived.

“I had a lot of doubts about coming,” Goddard said. “Even up to the day I left to come here. But everything has worked out for the best.”

Bowl notes

El Camino’s offense is the quickest OCC has faced. The Warriors are led by quarterback Rod Harvey (161 for 275, 2,104 yards, 17 touchdowns) and tailback Anthony Daigle (1,100 yards and 16 touchdowns in 114 carries). El Camino averaged 420 yards a game in offense compared to OCC’s 338. OCC will turn to quarterback Greg Angelovic (90 for 154, 1,187 yards, seven touchdowns) to control the ball so the defense can rest. Adrain Steen, OCC’s freshman tailback, led the Pirates with 891 yards in 153 carries and had six touchdowns. . . . Tickets for each game are $5 and will be on sale at the OCC gate.