Orange Coast College football lost a tough game against Santa Monica College Corsairs by 29:22 on Friday night.
After two consecutive weeks of postponement, fans were eager to return to Lebard Stadium for OCC’s second game of the season. It was only fitting that the game would stall until the last drive.
Perfectly clear skies were favorable conditions for the Corsairs opening sequence when quarterback Sam Vaulton passed 53 yards on the opening drive and paved the way for Hassan Biggus’ running back to hit a 5-yard rushing touchdown.
The pirates ‘defense struggled to bring the corsairs’ skilled players to the ground, and several missed tackles turned into costly wins for the OCC defense unit. Bad tackles in the open field, mixed with Santa Monica, who stretched out the defense with a repeated sailing concept, meant an early 13-0 deficit for the Pirates.
To make matters worse, the OCC kicking team shot a snap over the head of their kicker and forced the ball through the back of their own end zone to make it 15-0.
When the game slipped, the Pirates orchestrated a strong drive that was highlighted by RB JP Segura-Queijeiro with 60 rushing yards. Knocking on Santa Monica’s door, poor handling of the ball at the snap resulted in OCC losing possession at the opposing team’s seven-yard line.
A huge run by OCC RB JP Segura-Queijeiro gave the Pirates prime real estate to score, but poor ball handling results in brutal turnover on the Santa Monica 6 yard line pic.twitter.com/gEThF0iQtb
– Chris Bibona (@chrisbibona) September 25, 2021
The OCC defense took up the gap and forced such a decisive three-and-off on the next drive. Spurred on by the performance of the defense, the offensive unit wound up a four-game scoring drive to get on the board with just 25 seconds of playing time at halftime. OCC QB JD Rafkin charged for the one-yard TD but OCC missed the PAT so the score stayed 15-6.
The second half started with a few punts before OCC had the strongest drive of the day: 11 games for 84 yards with no penalties. Segura finished the drive with electric athleticism, handoffing to the right, losing a tackle, knocking another defender into the abyss only to jump for the four-yard TD run. Segura’s volatility would bring the game closer than ever, bringing it down to two points – still 15-13 in favor of the Corsairs.
OCC freshman RB JP Segura-Queijeiro is running in his second TD of the game and the Pirates have reduced the lead to just 2 – still 15-13 Santa Monica @ CoastReport pic.twitter.com/wKphnVxMQ0
– Chris Bibona (@chrisbibona) September 25, 2021
Segura managed a breakout game and raced 109 yards on 12 tries, including a TD.
@coastfball Freshman RB @JPSEGURAQ (12-109-1) talks about his big day on the ground, the team’s attitude as it tries to make a comeback, and explains what the team needs to improve on the track. @ CoastReport pic.twitter .com / ZNDerjxKoq
– Chris Bibona (@chrisbibona) September 25, 2021
Santa Monica responded with its own touchdown, only for a counterattack by the pirates in the form of a 43-yard field goal. On the very next drive, the Corsairs scored the last points of their night with a one-yard TD rush from RB Josiah Neos.
With only four minutes of play two points behind, OCC was in dire straits. A 17-game TD drive put the Pirates within one point, but only 57 seconds remained on the scoreboard.
Unfortunately, the pirates didn’t have the time to close the seven-point gap. OCC burned the last of its time outs to stop the Corsairs on a three-and-out, and time ran out after four attempts to pass on the offensive drive that followed.
Rafikin improved from his first start against Golden West College, finishing 60%, 218 yards and a touchdown in Friday’s game.
The Pirates (0-2) lost their second home game in a row and Santa Monica improved to 0.500 (2-2).
OCC will travel to Moorpark next Saturday at 7 p.m. before returning home on October 9 at 6 p.m. for a game against Grossmont
Comments are closed.