JC Football: Raiders hold off Pirates

MOORPARK — In a battle of struggling football defenses, Orange Coast College was clearly more battle weary Saturday night.

Still, the Pirates’ made enough plays on offense and forced enough turnovers on defense to push host Moorpark to nearly the final minute, before falling, 39-31.

OCC, which ranked No. 34 among 37 Southern California teams in yards allowed per game coming in, three spots ahead of Moorpark, surrendered 542 yards to the Raiders, who ran 106 plays and had the ball for just more than 39 minutes.

Moorpark (1-2), which produced 340 yards passing and 202 rushing, also found a little defense of its own, after having allowed a Southern California-worst 542 yards per game in its first two losses.

The Raiders held the Pirates (0-3) to 33 rushing yards on 27 attempts.

OCC did collect 294 passing yards, as freshman backup Kody Whitaker and starter Alec Dombkowski split time, as well as the Pirates’ four touchdown passes.

Dombkowski, who exited the game early in the third quarter, completed eight of 19 attempts for 134 yards. Utilizing his scrambling ability to create improvisational opportunities, he had touchdown tosses of 45 and 31 yards.

Whitaker, who on the first pass of his OCC career connected with Brandon Zuidema for a 10-yard touchdown that pulled the visitors within 26-21 midway through the third quarter, finished seven for 16 for 127 yards.

OCC sophomore Mark Munson had seven receptions for 113 yards and two touchdowns, diving to break the plane on his second score, a 17-yard catch and run with 3:02 left to finalize the scoring.

After Moorpark recovered the ensuing onside kickoff, OCC forced a punt and took possession at its own 13-yard line with 1:58 left.

Whitaker hit Davasyia Hagger for 19 yards on first down, then connected for eight more to Munson to the 39. A Moorpark face-masking penalty, one of 17 infractions for 136 yards by the hosts, moved the ball to the Raiders’ 46 with 1:34 left.

But a sack and three subsequent incomplete passes allowed the Raiders to take over and run out the clock.

OCC freshman cornerback Gilbert Gildersleeve had an interception and also recovered a fumble, the latter at the Raiders’ 28-yard line to set up Whitaker’s debut scoring strike.

Freshman safety Joseph Jackson also recovered a fumble to set the Pirates up at the Moorpark 47, but the offense, which failed to move the ball consistently, couldn’t cash in.

OCC blocked one conversion kick and stuffed two more two-point run attempts to keep things closer. The Pirates also partially blocked a punt, but fumbled the ball away on the ensuing snap.

OCC also fumbled at its own 14-yard line midway through the second quarter to set up a three-play touchdown drive.

Moorpark reserve quarterback Zach LaBar completed 29 of 37 for 303 yards and two touchdowns and sophomore receiver Cody Tuttle caught 14 passes for 195 yards and one touchdown. Tuttle set the school single-game record for receptions, coming one shy of the previous mark with 11 in the first half.

Griff Amies, a Corona del Mar High product, kicked a 42-yard field goal, his first of the season, to cut the deficit to 32-24, with 3:18 left in the third quarter.

Moorpark had 39 first downs, eight more than the Pirates, and the two teams combined for 28 penalties.

OCC sophomore middle linebacker Paco Potter had 14 tackles and freshman outside ‘backer Mike Hayden had 12.

OCC, under first-year coach Kevin Emerson, is 0-3 for only the second time in the last 10 seasons.

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Moorpark 39, Orange Coast 31

SCORE BY QUARTERS

OCC 0 – 14 – 10 – 7 – 31

Moorpark 6 – 20 – 6 – 7 – 39

FIRST QUARTER

M – LaBar 15 run (kick blocked), 4:28.

SECOND QUARTER

OCC – Munson 45 pass from Dombkowski (Amies kick), 12:16.

M – Burrell 2 run (run failed), 8:22.

M – Miller 10 pass from LaBar (Kirk kick), 6:16

OCC – Hagger 31 pass from Dombkowski (Amies kick), 4:12.

M – Tuttle 7 pass from LaBar (Kirk kick), 0:48.

THIRD QUARTER

OCC – Zuidema 10 pass from Whitaker (Amies kick), 7:49.

M – Beasley 17 run (run failed), 5:53.

OCC – Amies 47 FG, 3:18.

FOURTH QUARTER

M – Loftin 2 run (Kirk kick), 11:40.

OCC – Munson 12 pass from Whitaker (Amies kick), 3:02.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

OCC – White, 11-28.

M – Beasley, 29-144, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

OCC – Dombkowski, 8-19-0, 134, 2TDs; Whitaker, 7-16-0, 127, 2 TDs.

M – LaBar, 29-37-0, 303, 2 TDs; Davis, 4-6-1, 37.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

OCC – Munson, 7-113, 2 TDs; Hagger, 4-85, 1 TD.

M – Tuttle, 14-195, 1 TD.