COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Orange Coast Uses Ball Control to Win

Orange Coast came up with a fool-proof way to prevent Rancho Santiago from having any chance to rally in the second half of their Mission Conference Central Division football game Saturday at Santa Ana Stadium.

The Pirates controlled the ball for nearly 19 minutes of the second half and went on to an easy 34-6 victory. For OCC (3-2, 1-0 in the division), it was its third consecutive victory. Rancho Santiago is 1-3-1, 0-1.

Orange Coast’s Todd Mather, with the help of a great second effort, scored from one yard with 19 seconds left in the first half to give OCC a 24-6 lead.

The Pirates then used 6 minutes 53 seconds of the third quarter to drive 58 yards before Gene Adair kicked a 29-yard field goal to with 42 seconds left in the quarter.

Orange Coast, the 10th-ranked team in Southern California, came back with a 99-yard drive that consumed 7:15 of the fourth quarter. Jeff Clayton scored on a 22-yard run up the middle with 6:15 left to cap the drive. The touchdown, his third of the game and fifth in the last two games, gave Orange Coast a 34-6 lead.

Just to finish things off, OCC got the ball with 3:39 left and ran out the clock.

Clayton rushed for a team-high 105 yards in 20 carries. Orange Coast was unusually conservative, rushing 42 times and throwing 16 times. Pirate quarterback Todd Mather was nine of 16 for 113 yards.

After the game, Orange Coast Coach Bill Workman revealed the reason for OCC’s safe approach.

“The thing we were hiding was that Todd Mather didn’t throw a pass in practice all week,” he said. “We had to put him in the shop for a week because he was a little dinged up. We had to wait until pre-game drills to see if he could go.”

Mather injured his throwing arm in the Pirates’ 37-14 victory over San Diego Mesa last Saturday.

In other Central Division games:

Golden West 15, Fullerton 14--Vance Senteno scored on a one-yard run midway through the third quarter to complete Golden West’s comeback at Cal State Fullerton.

Fullerton (2-3, 0-1) grabbed a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on Elphamous Malbrue’s seven-yard run and a 31-yard touchdown pass from Josh Nelson to Vince Wilson.

Golden West (3-2, 1-0) got nine points in the second quarter on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Steve Walker to Robert Fiesler and a 24-yard field goal by Mark Wersching.

Riverside 17, Saddleback 13--Saddleback led, 13-0, after the first quarter but failed to hold on. Tahari Reed scored on a one-yard run to give Riverside a 17-13 lead early in the fourth quarter. The victory ended a nine-game losing streak over two seasons for Riverside (1-4, 1-0). Saddleback is 2-3, 0-1.

Josh Ireland scored on an eight-yard pass from Mike Fouts and Allan Perlas added another touchdown on two-yard run in the first quarter for Saddleback.