Pirates to resume play on Saturday against Citrus

COSTA MESA -- Fresh off of last week's Bye Week, the Orange Coast College football team looks to kick off the second half of the 2022 season strong as the Pirates host Citrus College on Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m.

"We've got such a resilient group of guys and even though we've had a rough start to the season, they are all showing up and working hard every day," OCC head coach Bubba Gonzalez said. "We've had to do so much learning with this young group and I think we've been learning something from every game so far this year. Now that we are in the conference part of our schedule, we know our goals are in front of us and if we can just focus on 'the next play' and not get too far ahead of ourselves, we can have a great game against a great Citrus football team."

It was a good time for a break for the Pirates (1-4) following a rough 31-0 setback at Mt. San Jacinto College in Week 5. The running due of J.P. Segura (11 carries, 58 yards) and John Gaines (17-55) did their parts on the offensive side, while the Pirate defense actually held the Eagles below their season average of 42 points per game heading into that contest. Through the first five games, Segura is second in the American Metro League in rushing attempts (74), yards (386) and yards-per-carry (5.2).

"We saw some good things on both sides of the ball and some guys made some plays, but we definitely need to find some consistent offensive success to keep drives going," Gonzalez said. "Our quarterback play needs to get better and that will just free things up for us. I'm not sure if it's nerves or the game speeding up on them a bit, but if we can just make the simple plays more successful, we can keep drives going and that will make it a little easier out there. Both of our QBs (Brandon Cannella and Baylor Ayers) need to be ready when their number is called and if it's not called, then they need to be ready at all times in case it IS called."

As for the undefeated Owls (5-0), they come into LeBard Stadium with heavy hearts following the loss of teammate Luke Pruitt, who died in an automobile accident on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at the age of 19. On the field, Citrus has been running on high octane on both sides of the ball. Quarterback Adam Urena is among the top QBs in all of California Community College football, throwing for 1,354 yards and 21 touchdowns with NO interceptions, while completing 68% of his pass attempts (119-of-175). 

Running backs Marshon Smith (45-202, 1 TD) and Jonathan Guerrero (58-222) have done the majority of the Owls' ground attack, while receivers Austin Urena (33 receptions, 281 yards, 3 TDs) and Jesse Carmona (16 catches for 204 yards, 5 TDs) have been Adam Urena's primary targets, but the Citrus depth on pass-catching is remarkable with five other receivers with 2 TDs each.

"They're a good team, not because of huge, talented guys, but because they play a sound, fundamental style and they don't make any mistakes," Gonzalez said of the Owls. "We need to limit our own mistakes and play a similar style of football in terms of execution and doing the little things right. We had a break, but now we are turning things back up again and the guys have responded to the challenge this week. We have full control of how we play the game and we just need to go out there and get it done. Every game is more important from here on out."