OCC’s near-upset fizzles

Orange Coast football vs. El Camino gamerPirates lead, 26-14, until unbeaten Warriors score 22 points in less than five minutes of fourth quarter to escape with a victory.COSTA MESA -- Orange Coast College football coach Mike Taylor and Notre Dame head man Charlie Weis operate at opposite ends of the college football spectrum. But, Saturday, they landed in the same boat.

Both Taylor and Weis saw their teams, coming off a bye week, execute at a high level and compete with valor in an attempt to upset a highly ranked opponent.

But, just as the Fighting Irish fell, 34-31, to visiting USC hours earlier, OCC saw an upset of visiting El Camino slip from its grasp in a 36-33 Mission Conference National Division defeat.

Like Notre Dame, OCC controlled the game until the final moments.

But El Camino erupted for 22 points within a span of 4 minutes, 40 seconds, to turn a 26-14 deficit into a 36-26 lead with 2:56 left in the game.

OCC scored on the final play of the game to tighten the deficit, but that only made the disappointment of the near-upset all the more galling.

“Tough loss,� said Taylor, who called the effort by his team, (3-3), ranked No. 15 in Southern California, its best this season.

Taylor said he believed his team let the Warriors (6-0), ranked No. 2 in Southern California, escape with the win.

“We were leading the No. 4 team in the nation in the fourth quarter,� Taylor said.

The Pirates, who had scored just six offensive touchdowns the first five games and came in ranked last in the 12-team Mission Conference in yards per game (204), produced three quality scoring drives and added two more touchdowns after taking over deep in Warrior territory.

Freshman Kekoa Crowell, who started at quarterback, completed 12 of 18 passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns.

Sophomore tailback Robert Aoki carried 21 times for 102 yards and two TDs for the Pirates.

The OCC defense, ranked No. 1 in the conference coming in, held El Camino, which came in with the conference’s top-ranked offense, to 59 yards rushing on 29 attempts.

But the Warriors’ behind freshman quarterback Lyle Moevao, amassed 323 passing yards, including a pair of long scoring receptions by sophomore Marcel Reece.

Reece opened the game with a 76-yard scoring bomb from Moevao, but OCC marched 70 yards on 10 plays, with Aoki producing the capper on a 20-yard run.

Klye Vandenbos kicked the conversion to pull OCC even, but he later missed two PATs, as well as a 43-yard field-goal try in the third quarter, that proved costly.

El Camino took a 14-7 lead, but Cory Nicol and Mordy Ornguze tackled El Camino’s Branden Jones, who had dropped a punt snap, at his own 2-yard line, to set up an Aoki scoring run that pulled the hosts within 14-13 with 14:01 left before halftime.

OCC went 80 yards on eight plays for a touchdown on its next possession, as Crowell bought some time by rolling right and found Shane Hoffman for a 25-yard TD pass to give OCC a 20-14 halftime edge.

The Pirates extended the lead by marching 54 yards on nine plays with the second-half kickoff. Crowell hit Eric Dietz, who stretched the ball inside the pylon at the goal line on an 11-yard scoring pass with 10:41 left in the third quarter.

Vandenbos’ second misfire on a conversion kick, however, kept the lead at 26-14.

OCC’s defense then forced three consecutive punts, but dropped three would-be interceptions to help keep the Warriors within striking distance.

Ornguze, a safety out of Corona del Mar High, appeared to come up with a big turnover when he recovered a fumble after an El Camino reception at the OCC 40. But the Pirates were flagged for face-masking on the play, extending a drive that ended in a 20-yard TD pass from Moevao to Kayne Farquharson with 7:36 left in the game.

Reece broke a tackle to complete a 50-yard scoring pass that gave the visitors the lead with 4:16 left and a two-point conversion pass made it 29-26.

On OCC’s ensuing possession, El Camino’s Samuel Calhoun returned an interception 50 yards to paydirt with 2:56 left.

OCC’s next drive ended with another interception at the El Camino 1-yard line.

But, after a punt, Ethan Haller, on for Crowell, who injured his right shoulder on the Calhoun interception, hit Hoffman for a 30-yard score with no time left.

Hoffman had six catches for 87 yards and two TDs, while Haller finished 7 of 11 for 85 yards.

Nicol made a leaping interception, his fifth of the season, and Chris Assily picked off a pass in the end zone for a key defensive stop in the second quarter.

Justin Williams, Dave Ronning, Aaron Miller, Ryan Miller, Alex Mulu, Paul Bartsch, Nick Snowden and Winter Welz also made big defensive plays for OCC.