COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOOTBALL ROUNDUP : Orange Coast Shows Class, Rolls Past Fullerton, 38-16

Orange Coast, expected to be the best local team this season, is starting to establish itself in that role. The Pirates dominated Fullerton, 38-16, Saturday in a Mission Conference Central Division game at OCC.

Orange Coast’s Jeff Clayton rushed for a game-high 185 yards in 12 carries, and quarterback Todd Mather threw for 154 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more.

Orange Coast’s defense also did a solid job of keeping Fullerton’s power passing offense out of the end zone until late in the game.

It was the fifth consecutive victory for OCC (5-2, 2-0 in the division). Fullerton is 3-4, 0-2.

The game swung late in the first half. OCC was near midfield when Mather threw a poor pitch, and it was recovered by Fullerton’s John Ledieff at the Hornet 48. The turnover came with four minutes 14 seconds left and Fullerton trailing, 14-3.

But Fullerton failed to advance, and OCC got the ball at its own 20 after a punt, then went 80 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown and a 21-3 lead on a seven-yard pass from Mather to Chris Quinn with 55 seconds left in the half. On the previous play, it appeared OCC would have to settle for a field-goal try after a third-down pass came up short, but Fullerton was called for a facemask penalty, giving OCC a first down.

The Hornets’ hopes of a second-half rally rose when Ryan Roskelly returned the second-half kickoff 66 yards to the OCC 31.

Fullerton got as far as the 13 before the drive stalled. The Hornets tried a fake field goal, but OCC read it all the way, and the pass from Jason Wren to kicker Chris Prater lost three yards.

OCC took over at the Fullerton 16 and went 84 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown, Clayton with runs of 24 and 26 yards in the drive. The touchdown came when Mather scrambled 13 yards to put OCC ahead, 28-3, with 6:06 left in the third.

Clayton, who scored on a 62-yard run with 40 seconds left in the first quarter, has rushed for more than 100 yards in his last five games.

Fullerton’s Nelson completed 22 of 36 passes for 256 yards but was sacked four times for minus 39 yards and was hurried several other times. Roskelly had 12 catches for 116 yards, but eight catches were for six yards or less.

Roskelly was held in check around the line of scrimmage partly because of the strong play of defensive back Randy Karliner.

“That was his job,” OCC Coach Bill Workman said. “Obviously they are going to throw the ball, but we did a pretty good job back there most of the time.”

In other Mission Conference games:

Rancho Santiago 45, Southwestern 31--Donnie Bladow rushed for a career-high 236 yards and scored four touchdowns as Rancho Santiago (2-4-1) broke a four-game losing streak by beating Southwestern (2-5).

Bladow’s rushing yards were the fourth-highest in school history.

Saddleback 31, San Diego Mesa 27--Host Saddleback (4-3) rallied for 21 consecutive points in the second half for the victory. Mesa (1-6) went ahead, 27-10, early in the third quarter but Saddleback’s Shad Hinchen returned the kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. Reggie Carter scored on a seven-yard run to cut the lead to 27-24. The winning score came on a 54-yard pass from Mike Fouts to Chris Stone with about six minutes to play.

Stone had seven catches for 218 yards, 14 off the Saddleback single-game record of 232 set in 1988 by Scott Miller who went on to play with the Miami Dolphins. Fouts, who played at Mesa last season, had his best game at Saddleback. He was 17 of 30 for 321 yards.

Palomar 41, Golden West 7--Golden West (3-4) was no match for undefeated Palomar (7-0) as running back Tony Burton ran for 114 yards and scored four touchdowns for the Comets at San Marcos High.