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OCC Football Preview: Pirates begin Emerson era

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Kevin Emerson’s chair in the Orange Coast College football office is barely broken in. About the same can be said of the first-year coach’s team in 2014.

Hired in April to replace Mike Taylor, who was 62-91 in 15 seasons, Emerson and his staff missed the recruiting season, during which all but 15 Pirates players vanished, forcing the Pirates coaches to bring in virtual leftovers and/or castoffs bent on seizing the suddenly ample opportunity to play.

Among the departed were receiver D.J. McFadden (a team-best 774 yards and eight touchdowns on 36 receptions) and tailback Lorenzo Williams (whose 729 rushing yards accounted for nearly three-quarters of the team’s total). Both of them were second-team All-Southern Conference honorees, as was then-freshman kick returner and receiver Treydonte Hill, who also took his talents elsewhere.

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McFadden landed at Bloomsburg College, a Division II school in Pennsylvania, while Hill is at Los Angeles Harbor Community College.

Left tackle Zach Bateman, a highly coveted Division I recruit who starred at Estancia High, and left guard Reuben Brien-Arnold are the lone returning starters on offense, though receivers AJ Holman (25 catches for 238 yards and two touchdowns) and Spencer Ludin (10 catches for 170 yards and two TDs) are also back.

Holman, who carried once for two yards, is the only returner that contributed to a running game that ranked No. 33 among 37 schools in the Southern California Football Assn. last season, when OCC finished 3-7 for the second straight year, 1-5 in the Southern Division.

Outside linebacker Paul Swanson, who made 29 tackles as a part-time starter in 2013, tackle Re’Shon Howard (19 tackles as a reserve), and outside linebacker Hugh Tomkins (two tackles in his only game last season) are returners projected to start on defense.

That defense was plundered last fall, when it allowed an SCFA-worst 44.2 points per game, a school record. That woeful total included an SCFA-worst 511 yards per contest, including an SCFA-worst 299 passing yards a game.

Linebackers Paco Potter (62 tackles, third-most on the team) and Francisco Alvarado (31) are also back, as is defensive end Austin Brewer (34) and safety Aronne Santos (13). Potter and Brewer started as freshmen, but are set to contribute off the bench this season for first-year coordinator Wayne Schmida, who performed the same duties previously at Los Alamitos and Lakewood high schools.

“There is a lot of building we have to do,” said Emerson, 44, who spent the last five seasons compiling a 29-23 record at San Bernardino Valley Community College, after a seven-year stint at Citrus (46-27). “We have to change the culture.”

Improving results could be a challenge, at least Emerson’s first season, which begins Saturday at home against Chaffey at 6 p.m. Chaffey (at No. 11) is one of five OCC opponents ranked in the Southern California preseason top 11, including top-ranked Fullerton.

Reigning Southern Conference champion Fullerton (No. 2), Golden West (No. 8), Cerritos (No. 11) and Saddleback (No. 22), are OCC foes in the state preseason top 25.

Freshman quarterback Alec Dombkowski, who last played high school football in Virginia in 2011, completed 17 of 18 passes for 238 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage. But that was against scout-team defenders.

“[Dombkowski] has a rocket of an arm,” said Emerson, who also listed freshman Aaron Crone as a contender for the job, before Crone went down in practice with a pinched nerve in his neck/shoulder.

Daniel Rodriguez, a freshman from Elsinore, opens as the featured ballcarrier, while Emerson said Kyle White, a freshman from Alabama, could round out a one-two rushing punch in the diversified no-huddle shotgun that is very similar to a traditional spread offense.

Sophomore Mark Munson (six catches for 47 yards and two TDs in the scrimmage) and freshman Long Beach Poly product Darrel Watts (three receptions for 52 yards and one touchdown Saturday), are speedy and promising newcomers to the receiving corps.

Defensively, freshman Mike Hayden, whose 88 tackles as an outside linebacker/end at Los Alamitos High last season included 10 sacks, is set to open at middle linebacker in the four-three scheme, in which freshman cornerback Esdras Simervil stood out in the scrimmage.

“It’s a work in progress,” Emerson said of the lineup on both sides of the ball. “I like where our offense is and our defense, too. They are both getting better. Are they where we need them to be? No. We need to strive to get better offensively, defensively and on special teams.

“The players are trying to do everything they can to succeed, but what we are asking them to do and the level of play we are asking from them, is a little bit of a shock to them. They are still getting accustomed to that and acclimating to us as coaches.”

Emerson said his 10-man staff, only two of whom were at OCC last fall, is one of the best he has ever assembled.

“It’s an awesome staff,” Emerson said. “We like each other, we communicate well and we all have the same goals.”

Former NFL All-Pro offensive lineman Doug Smith is back working with the trench-dwellers, while Taylor, originally slated to coordinate the defense when Emerson was hired, will now oversee special teams.

Those special teams include former Corona del Mar High standout kicker Griff Amies, who struggled with consistency last season, converting just nine of 22 field-goal tries.

Sophomore Jake Ambrose, a Newport Harbor High product who missed last season with an injury, is back as the punter.

Orange Coast Pirates

Division: Southern California National

Conference: Southern

Head coach: Kevin Emerson (first year)

Coaching staff: Emerson (offensive coordinator, quarterbacks); Wayne Schmida (defensive coordinator); Mike Taylor (special teams); Doug Smith (offensive line); Jeff Peace (defensive line); Thomas Pearson (linebackers); Matthew Griffin (receivers); Nick LaPointe (running backs); Brandon Blackmon (secondary); Carl Lopez (secondary)..

2013 records: 3-7; 1-5 conference, tied for sixth)

Offensive scheme: Multiple no-huddle

Defensive scheme: Four-three

Returning starters offense: Two

Returning starters defense: One

Players returning with honors: None.

Key newcomers: Alec Dombkowski (QB, Fr.); Daniel Rodriguez (RB, Fr.); Mark Munson (WR, So.); Mike Hayden (MLB, Fr.); Esdras Simervil (CB, Fr.).

Team strengths: The left side of the offensive line returns, including heralded sophomore tackle Zach Bateman, an Estancia High product who has generated scholarship offers from major four-year schools.

The schedule: The Pirates open conference play on Sept. 27 at home against Fullerton, ranked No. 1 in Southern California. OCC faces arch-rival Golden West (No. 8 in the state preseason poll) at home on Nov. 8.

2014 schedule

Sept 6: Chaffey (home), 6 p.m.

Sept. 13: at Cerritos, 7 p.m.

Sept. 20: at Moorpark, 6 p.m.

Sept. 27: Fullerton* (home), 7 p.m.

Oct. 11: L.A. Pierce (home), 6 p.m.

Oct. 18: at Palomar*, 6 p.m.

Oct. 25: at Saddleback*, 6 p.m.

Nov. 1: Santa Ana* (home), 1 p.m.

Nov. 8: Golden West* (home), 6 p.m.

Nov. 15: at Grossmont*, 1 p.m.

(*denotes conference game)

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