Orange Coast Football Preview

Orange Coast (3-1) vs. Grossmont (3-1)

When/where: Saturday, 1 p.m. at Grossmont

Key Pirates: So. TB Robert Penny (440 yards, five TDs rushing); FR. QB Jon Newsom (829 yards, eight TDs passing); So. OLB Nick Cody (44 tackles); So. DE Vince Coleman (34 tackles, 5.5 sacks).

Key Griffins: Fr. LB Ian Seau (11 sacks, 14.5 tackles for loss); So. QB Chris Bonner (1,072 yards, eight TDs passing); Fr. WR Nicholas Kurts (280 yards, five TDs on 24 receptions); So. LB Christopher Collins (31 tackles, one INT).

Breakdown: The Pirates are ranked No. 8 in Southern California, No. 17 in the state and No. 30 in JCGridiron.com national poll after surprising Palomar, 35-28, last week for their third straight win ... It’s OCC’s first three-game winning streak since a 4-0 start in 2009 ... Grossmont is ranked No. 5 in SoCal and No. 13 in the state ... Both teams are 1-0 in the Southern Conference ... Seau, a bounce-back from Kansas State, is the nephew of the late NFL great Junior Seau ... Grossmont rallied from a 24-7 deficit to earn a 34-31 victory at Santa Ana in the conference opener ... The Griffins have 10 interceptions this season and are plus-three in turnover ratio ... OCC, tops in the conference in scoring defense (allowing 18.3 points per game), has six picks, but has not recovered a fumble and is minus-six in turnover ratio ... OCC leads the series, 14-7-1, but has not beaten Grossmont since 1993 and the Griffins have won the last four meetings by combined 144-77 margin ... Penny has three straight games with triple-digit rushing outputs ... OCC receivers Tyler Duncan, Bryan Keller and Cam Oliver have 13 receptions each and a combined seven TDs receiving ... The Griffins have 15 winning seasons the last 16 years, while OCC has three in the same span ... Pirates are unbeaten in two road games this season ... Grossmont kicker Andres Carrillo (five for five on field-goal attempts in 2012) kicked two last week and was named Southern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.

— Barry Faulkner