Penny leads Pirates past Vikings, 34-12
LONG BEACH -- Robert Penny rushed for 164 yards and two touchdowns on 34 carries to lead the Orange Coast College football team past Long Beach City College, 34-12, Saturday night at LBCC's Veteran's Stadium.
It was a career night for Penny, who set personal highs in carries and yards in leading the Pirates (2-1) to their second win in a row.
Adding to Coast's ground game was freshman Graeme Fraser, who rushed for 70 yards on 13 carries.
Quarterback Jon Newsom helped balance out the offense with 110 yards in the air on 10-of-20 passing with two touchdowns and one interception. Receivers Bryan Keller and Tyler Duncan each pulled in touchdown grabs and the duo combined for five catches for 132 yards.
The OCC offense was given a boost by its defense as a fumble recovery by Vince Coleman helped put the Pirates inside the Vikings' 20 on its first possession.
Three plays later, Newsom hooked up with Cam Oliver for a 9-yard touchdown strike and the Pirates were up 7-0 early in the first quarter.
But Long Beach (0-3) didn't waste much time to tie the game as Dominique Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown to tie the game up at 7 after the successful PAT.
Early in the second quarter, Coast took to the ground and used an eight-play, 60-yard drive (all by the rush) to regain the lead, thanks to a 2-yard TD run by Penny. The point-after-attempt was missed, keeping the score, 13-7.
Later in the quarter, the Pirates pulled a play out of their book of magic tricks as receiver Darren Drysdale threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Keller with 8:23 left in the half to put Coast up 20-7.
A botched snap on a punt attempt led to a Pirate safety, cutting OCC's lead to 20-9 and that score remained the same as the two teams heading into the locker rooms at halftime.
After both teams traded possessions to start the second half, Coast again grinded out a ground-led drive before Newsom caught the Vikings' defense guarded for the run and connected with Duncan on a 39-yard touchdown pass, putting OCC up 27-9.
The OCC defense -- led by a 10-tackle performance (nine solo) by Chris Aguilar, seven tackles from Nick Cody (one sack, two tackles for loss) and six from Coleman (two sacks, 1.5 TFL one fumble recovery) -- held the Vikings to just a field goal for the entire second half.
The Pirates closed out their scoring for the night with a clock-draining, seven-play, 68-yard drive that ended with Penny's third score of the night -- a 3-yard TD run.
After back-to-back road wins, the Pirates will return to LeBard Stadium as they open up National Division, Southern Conference play against Palomar, beginning at 1 p.m.
