Pirates show heart, pride in 20-14 win over Wolverines

SAN BERNARDINO -- In a game that could have easily been played with little to no emotion or effort, the Orange Coast College football team played its heart out all the way to the end of the season and that effort was finally rewarded with a 20-14 win over San Bernardino Valley on Saturday.

A rough year for the Pirates ended on a happy note and coach Bubba Gonzalez finally had a reason to smile afterwards. "I'm just so proud of these guys," Gonzalez said. "They could've easily thrown in the towel after the Golden West game, but they didn't They showed character and resiliency. I can't say enough about the grit these guys showed out there today."

Both teams battled back and forth throughout the game. Coast took a 7-0 lead on the first of two 1-yard TD runs by quarterback Zach Congalton. But after each of those TD runs, the Wolverines would answer and even the score. With 8:28 left in the fourth quarter, a 71-yard touchdown run by Daquarn Davis evened things at 14, but less than an minute later, Coast would respond with a big run of its own.

After a fumble recovery by the Pirates, Congalton hooked up with Isaiah Esquibel on a 43-yard touchdown strike, putting the Pirates up 20-14 with 7:21 left in the game.

From there, the OCC defense went to work. Back-to-back running plays for SBVC went for minus-11 yards as tacklers Robert Martin III, Tavon Shippen and and Joseph Near came up big down the stretch. On 3rd-and-21, the Pirates brought the pressure and D.J. Brown picked up a huge sack, forcing the Wolverines into a punt deep in their own zone.

Coast got the ball and even though no points were scored, the drive consumed the reminder of the clock, giving the Pirates their first win of the season and their first since last year's season finale against West L.A. on Nov. 12, 2022.

Congalton threw for 253 yards and a touchdown on 25-of-48 passing. He finished the 2023 season with over 1,800 yards passing and seven touchdowns, while completing over 56 percent of his attempts. He also led the team with 508 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns. 

Near and Nathaniel Lyken finished with seven tackles each. Lyken also had a 78-yard interception return for the game.