Ventura Coach Proves Prophetic in 50-7 Setback

Ventura College Coach Dick James predicted early in the week that the El Camino football team would be fired up after losing its opener to College of the Sequoias.

Only 20 seconds into Ventura’s opener Saturday, James found out how accurate his prediction would be.

El Camino (1-1) was an aggressive, hard-hitting team that quickly neutralized Ventura’s own first-game emotions and went on to a 50-7 nonconferance rout of the Pirates at Larrabee Stadium.

El Camino linebacker Jim Rudberg led his Warriors onto the field then into the end zone after stepping in front of Ventura wide receiver Shawn Young and intercepting quarterback Matt Brimigion’s second pass of the season for a wide-open 20-yard return.

It only took 3 minutes 6 seconds for the Warriors to get into the end zone again.

Brimigion and Young were victimized a second time when linebacker Lamar Mickey stepped in front of Young at the 50-yard line and raced down the sideline untouched to give El Camino an early 14-0 lead.

Ventura drove to the El Camino 40 on the next series before punting to the El Camino 18, giving the Warrior offense a chance for the first time with 5:53 left in the first quarter.

The El Camino offense scored on its second play.

Warrior wide receiver Latario Rachel beat Ventura cornerback Anthony Morales and grabbed a perfect pass from quarterback Jerry Singleton on an 86-yard play to give the Warriors a 21-0 first-quarter lead.

“We gave them two touchdowns right off, then they got one they earned, and before the kids could even take a breath we were down 21 to nothing,” James said.

Ventura (0-1) hardly got a chance to breathe the remainder of the game, either.

The Pirates avoided the shutout in the third quarter after J.J. Alvarez’s kickoff return to the El Camino 39-yard line set up a touchdown three plays later.

Isaac Lopez, who shared playing time with Brimigion after the first quarter, tossed a 28-yard pass to fullback William Mills out of the backfield to make the score 43-7 late in the third quarter.