Pirates pull out 35-19 win over Griffins

EL CAJON -- It was a long, but successful trek down south for the Orange Coast College football team as the Pirates rolled past the host Griffins, 35-19, on Saturday afternoon at Mashin-Roth Stadium.

Kody Whitaker threw for 153 yards and a touchdown for the Pirates (3-4, 1-1 in Southern League), while running backs A'Brae Booker-Curin and Shane Beaver each notched a pair of touchdown runs and James Rutledge caught four passes for 97 yards and a TD.

On defense, Daniel Garcia had eight tackles (seven solo) and a sack, while Sherrod Page pulled in a pair of interceptions to help spark the offense for the Pirates.

Coast set the tone early and opened the game with a successful 13-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard TD run by Booker-Curin to put OCC up, 7-0 after a Estevan Silva PAT.

That lead remained the same until late in the second quarter, when Whitaker hooked up with Rutledge on a 53-yard TD strike, giving Coast a 14-0 lead at the half.

Grossmont nearly found the end zone at the end of the half, but on first-and-goal from the Pirates' 2-yard line, Garcia came through and stopped Griffins' running back Nehemiah Brown for a 2-yard loss as time expired.

The Griffins (4-3, 0-2), went to work early in the second half and scored on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Richard Estevez to Adrian Tolbert, cutting the OCC lead in half at 14-7.

A Bryce Garcia interception helped jump-start the Pirates' offense and with a short field, Coast made it 21-7 on a 1-yard TD run by Beaver midway through the third quarter.

Again Grossmont worked its way down the field and again, a Griffins' drive was stopped by an interception as Page retuned his pickoff 48 yards down to the GC 15-yard line and two plays later, another Beaver TD from a yard out made it 28-7.

Grossmont scored early in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard TD strike from Estevez to Tolbert to make it 28-13, but Sharky Reza's block on the PAT attempt negated the extra point for the Griffins.

The deal-breaker for the Griffins came late in the fourth when Page notched his second interception of the game and returned the pick 36 yards down to the Grossmont 4-yard line. Two plays later, Booker-Curin scampered into the end zone on a 5-yard TD run, putting OCC up 35-13.

A late TD by the Griffins capped off the scoring, but it was too little, too late as the Pirates prevailed and snapped a modest two-game losing skid.

The Pirates will return to action on Saturday at Dick Tucker Field against rival Golden West, beginning at 6 p.m.