JC Football: OCC suffers historic loss

The Orange Coast College sports information department handed out the annual football yearbook before Saturday’s Southern Conference game against visiting Grossmont.

It turned out that the historical document came in handy, as research was required to confirm the worst day, numerically at least, in the 66-season history of the program.

The Pirates (1-4, 0-2 in conference) surrendered their largest single-game scoring output ever in a 77-19 loss to the Griffins (4-1, 2-0). The 58-point margin was also the most lopsided defeat in 650 games since the program debuted in 1948.

Grossmont, which scored touchdowns on its last nine possessions and at one point reeled off 63 straight points, amassed 910 yards of offense, including 644 through the air.

Freshman quarterback William Abt completed 32 of 44 attempts for 580 yards and six touchdowns, as the OCC secondary treated Grossmont receivers as if they were carrying a contagious disease.

Abt continually found Grossmont receivers 10 yards clear of the nearest defender and once the catch was made, a calamitous display of tackling ensued, allowing Abt to post completions of 64, 48, 46, 37, 34, 29, 25 (twice), 22, and 20 (twice) yards.

In addition, backup quarterback Brandon Steed had a 32-yard touchdown pass.

Grossmont, which has won six straight against the Pirates, did not neglect its running game, either as it rolled up 266 yards, including 165 on 17 carries by sophomore tailback Treyous Jarrells. Jarrells broke off runs of 35, 27 and 22 yards, while his backup, freshman Ryan Williams, added a run of 27 yards.

The Griffins, who came in ranked third in the 37-team Southern California Football Assn. in total offense with 515.3 yards per game, had 38 first downs. The visitors averaged 5.6 plays and 126 seconds on their 11 touchdown drives. Barring processions of 12, 12 and nine plays, the remaining eight touchdown drives took an average of four plays and 77 seconds.

Grossmont scored on its first play of the second half, had two scoring drives of three plays, and two more of four. It also had a pair of five-play touchdown drives.

It failed to score on three of its first four possessions, as the Pirates stopped the Griffins on downs on the opening possession of the game and freshman defensive back Jordan Davidson intercepted in the end zone after Grossmont had driven from its own 10-yard line to the OCC 19 on its third possession.

The Griffins also missed a 40-yard field-goal attempt early in the second quarter.

OCC tied the score at 7-7 late in the first quarter and pulled within 14-13 with 8:31 left in the second quarter, as Griff Amies’ conversion attempt bounced off one upright and back toward the field.

The Pirates finally added points on their final possession, moving 75 yards on nine plays, with backup quarterback Jon Newsom lobbing a scoring pass to freshman D.J. McFadden with 36 seconds left in the game.

Grossmont did not punt, while OCC punted six times, including costly shanks of 10 and 19 yards.

“I feel sorry for our punter, but not that sorry,” said a smiling Abt after the game. “This was one of our most efficient days we’ve had [Grossmont scored 65 and 63 points, respectively, in its first two wins and came in ranked No. 2 in scoring in the SCFA at 45.2 points per contest], but we can do better. We’re not even close to there yet.”

OCC Coach Mike Taylor was obviously amply impressed by where the Griffins were on Saturday.

“They’re real good,” Taylor said. “They have some athletes and some of the matchups outside were a little bit more than we could cover. They scored a zillion points after we came within 14-13. They are one of the better offenses and once they got going, they rolled us.”

Abt, a bounce-back from the University of Houston who has now thrown for 1,831 yards and 21 touchdowns in five games at Grossmont, said it was merely a matter of following the game plan.

“[The Pirates] did exactly what we thought they were going to do and we just executed,” Abt said. “After they came within 14-13, we scored twice [in just more than the next three minutes] and we definitely took the momentum back.”

OCC freshman Jack Foster, who made his first start at quarterback after being fourth on the depth chart in August, gave a good account. Despite being under constant pressure and being sacked five times, he completed 15 of 25 for 195 yards and a touchdown. He did not throw an interception.

But Foster was replaced by sophomore Jon Newsom midway through the third quarter. Newsom connected on seven of 14 for 120 yards and one TD, but threw two interceptions, both of which he threw rainbows up for grabs while being pressured.

Freshman A.J. Holman had seven receptions for 74 yards, while McFadden had five catches for 73 yards. Treydonte Hill collected 126 yards on his four receptions.

OCC receiver Angel Holmes suffered a concussion, was knocked out temporarily, and was transported to a hospital for observation, Taylor said.

OCC allowed 66 points to Mt. San Antonio in 1997 and its previous biggest margin of defeat was a 64-7 setback against Santa Ana in 1961.

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Grossmont 77, Orange Coast 19

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Grossmont 7 – 28 – 28 – 14 — 77

OCC 7 – 6 – 0 – 0 — 13

FIRST QUARTER

GMT – Jones 1 run (McGirr kick), 9:04

OCC – Williams 40 run Amies kick, 2:39.

SECOND QUARTER

GMT – Jones 1 pass from Abt (McGirr kick), 10:40.

OCC – Holman 7 pass from Foster (kick failed), 8:31.

GMT – Bowie 8 pass from Abt (McGirr kick), 7:11.

GMT – Kurtz 8 pass from Abt (McGirr kick), 5:29.

GMT – Jarrells 5 run (McGirr kick), 0:58.

THIRD QUARTER

GMT – Patrick 64 pass from Abt (McGirr kick), 13:38.

GMT – Bailey 48 pass from Abt (McGirr kick), 12:07.

GMT – Jarrells 17 run (McGirr kick), 7:13.

GMT – Patrick 29 pass from Abt (McGirr kick), 1:23.

FOURTH QUARTER

GMT – Jones 1 run (McGirr kick), 7:41.

GMT – Geater 32 pass from Steed (McGirr kick), 4:29.

OCC – McFadden 18 pass from Newsom (pass failed), 0:36.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

GMT – Jarrells, 17-165, 2 TDs; Williams, 9-80.

OCC – Williams, 4-48, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

GMT – Abt, 32-44-1, 580, 6 TDs.

OCC – Foster, 15-25-0, 195, 1 TD; Newsom, 7-14-2, 120, 1 TD..

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

GMT – Patrick, 7-201, 2 TDs; Kurtz, 5-81, 1 TD; Jones, 4-89, 1 TD.

OCC – Holman, 7-74, 1 TD; McFadden, 5-73, 1 TD, Hill, 4-126.