Pirates continue campaign with road test at East Los Angeles

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College football team will wrap up the first half of the 2023 season on Saturday as the Pirates travel to East Los Angeles College to take on the Huskies, beginning at 6 p.m.

LAST WEEK: Things looked good early on last week at Cerritos College as the Pirates' defense kept the Falcons off the scoreboard and a pair of Leo Ogawa field goals and a safety gave Coast a baseball-like 8-0 lead into the second quarter. But, Cerritos found life with a touchdown to make it 8-6 after a failed 2-point try, then, the Falcons grabbed the lead for good when Mister Bridges picked off a pass and returned it 95 yards for a touchdown late in the second quarter, putting the hosts up 14-8 after a made 2-point attempt.

A turnover on downs deep in Pirate territory led to a 20-yard TD pass to Gavin Porch, extending Cerritos' lead to 22-8. The Falcons would score two more consecutive touchdowns before Coast wrapped up the scoring with a 42-yard TD pass from Zach Congalton to Joseph Flannigan midway through the fourth quarter. 

Congalton threw for 204 yards and a touchdown (three interceptions) on 25-of-46 passing and also led the rushing game with 38 yards on the ground. Flannigan caught six passes for 89 yards as nine different OCC players grabbed at least one completion.

On defense, Nathaniel Lyken joined Mason Lambooy and Joseph Near with a team-best six tackles and also picked off a pass, his second of the season. Near also picked up a fumble recovery as well for the Pirates.

THROUGH FOUR GAMES: Congalton and teammate Baylor Ayres have combined to throw for 799 yards and a 51.2% completion rate with four touchdowns. Congalton leads the squad by a wide margin with 329 rushing yards and a pair of TDs, while wide receiver Isaiah Esquibel has been OCC's top target, catching 22 passes for 180 yards. Lyken leads the defense with 24 tackles with Near (23), Lambooy (21) and Ethan Castillo (18) close behind. Naluwaea Loo has been a strong pass-rusher and leads OCC with three sacks.

FOR THE HUSKIES: A pair of early-season wins over Grossmont (45-38) and Allan Hancock (25-20) have been followed up with losses at Fullerton (51-0) and at Golden West (28-19) for the Huskies, who enter Saturday's game at 2-2. ELAC carried an early 10-7 lead before 21 unanswered points by the Rustlers proved too much to overcome. The QB combination of Trilian Harris and Frank Alvarez combined to throw for 175 yards on 18-of-25 passing with 10 different Huskies catching balls in the game. For the season, the tandem of Harris and Alvarez have thrown for 684 yards and eight TDs. Be sure to keep an eye on two-way standout player DeGabriel Floyd. The 6'3, 235-pound University of Texas bounceback plays linebacker on defense and has 21 tackles, three pass breakups and an interception thus far, while on offense, he also has nine carries for 94 yards and six touchdowns as well as three receptions for 36 yards and a touchdown.