Defense dominates for Pirates in 38-8 win over Moorpark

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College defense managed to put up more than the Moorpark College offense, which helped the Pirate football team cruise to a 38-8 nonconference win over visiting Moorpark on Saturday night inside LeBard Stadium.

Four OCC interceptions by four different Pirate players led the way for Coast's first win of the season (1-2) and it didn't take long for the "D" to garner attention.

An early face mask penalty helped keep alive OCC's first drive of the series, which turned into a 14-play, 78-yard, 7-minute march down the field, capped off by a 12-yard pass from Mason Dossey to Stefan Derrick, putting Coast up 7-0.

Ten seconds later, Moorpark (0-3) had the ball on its own 25-yard line when Raider QB Christian Hammack's first pass of the night was picked off by sophomore Derrick Worthy, who raced 26 yards to the end zone, putting the Pirates up 14-0.

Dan Bjurman capped off OCC's 17-point opening quarter with a 33-yard field goal and the Pirates never looked back.

Dossey, who finished with 132 yards and three touchdowns on 12-of-18 passing, hooked up with Darrel Watts on a 15-yard TD strike before re-connecting with Derrick on an 8-yard touchdown pass with seven seconds left in the first half, sending the Pirates into the locker room with a comfortable 31-0 lead. Derrick led the receivers with five catches for 63 yards and two touchdowns.

Moorpark showed some signs of life early in the third quarter when Hammack connected with Aaron Lacombe on a 27-yard touchdown and following the successful 2-point try, the Raiders trailed, 31-8.

Coast was stopped on a fourth-down try inside its own 30-yard-line and again, the Raiders moved down the short field and had the ball on the Pirates' 11-yard-line before the defense stepped up with its third interception of the night as Brandon Worthy kept the Raiders out of the end zone.

That would be the last threat of the night for the Pirates, who capped off their night with their second interception return for a touchdown, this one a 50-yard pickoff return by Joseph Jackson.

OCC's ground game churned out 192 rushing yards, led by Daniel Rodriguez (13 carries, 80 yards) and Dossey (nine carries, 53 yards), while on defense, Mark Cushing, who also had an interception, finished the night with a team-best 13 tackles (eight solo), while Mike Hayden added 11 tackles (seven solo).

Coast will return to action on Saturday on the road against Fullerton College (played at Nathan Shapell Memorial Stadium) beginning at 6 p.m. OCC's next home game will be on Saturday, Oct. 17 against Palomar, also at 6 p.m.