Pirates end season with 21-14 win over West L.A.

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College football team closed out the 2022 season on a modest two-game win streak following a 21-14 victory over visiting West L.A. College on Saturday night inside LeBard Stadium.

It was a matchup that featured two of the top running backs in the state -- West L.A.'s Malik Norman and OCC's J.P. Segura and both runners didn't disappoint. Norman finished the night with 231 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries, while Segura finished his OCC career with 107 yards and a touchdown in the first half before exiting the game.

The quarterback tandem of Baylor Ayres and Brandon Cannella combined for 241 passing yards and a touchdown on 12-of-24 passing. Ayres added a touchdown toss to Glenn Atkins, who led the way with 60 receiving yards and a touchdown.

It was a battle of the defensive stops for both teams throughout the game. West L.A. broke the scoreless tie late in the first quarter when quarterback Cassell Wiggins found Damon Badenhorst for an 11-yard touchdown strike, capping off a 7-play, 58-yard scoring drive, putting the Wildcats up, 7-0.

It stayed that way until an interception by OCC's Johnny Brigandi and a Wildcat personal foul gave the Pirates (3-7, 2-3 in the American Metro Division) the ball on the WLAC 29-yard line. The drive consisted of four straight running plays by Segura, who scampered in on a 3-yard TD run to tie the score at 7.

In the second half, OCC grabbed the lead late in the third when Ayres connected with Atkins on a slant route and the receiver was gone for a 53-yard touchdown pass, putting the Pirates up, 14-7,

That lead lasted all of three plays as Norman found an opening and broke free on a 69-yard TD run to even things up at 14.

An interesting pooch kickoff gave Coast excellent field position and the Pirates took full advantage of it, capping off a 7-play, 53-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard TD run by Ayres, putting the Pirates up 21-14.

From there, the Pirate defense clamped down and made big plays when called upon. Rob Martin led the OCC defense with nine tackles, while Nathaniel Lyken and Joshua Huerta each had eight.

West L.A. has one final chance for a late game-tying scoring drive but on 4th-and-9, Wiggins was picked off by Treyvon Lee and that wrapped things up.

While Segura ended things on the sideline in his final game with the Pirates, the sophomore running back definitely left his mark in the OCC record book. He finished with 1,121 rushing yards for the season and 1,670 for his stellar career, putting him seventh on OCC's career rushing list. His 1,170 yards are sixth-most for one season in Pirate history as well.