GAME STATS | SEASON STATS
September 1, 2007
Football:
Mistakes costly as Long Beach drops season opener 31-21
Long Beach City College totaled 461 yards of offense, but penalties, turnovers, and a pair of unsuccessful scoring chances in the red zone led to the Vikings’ 31-21 season-opening loss to College of the Canyons on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Sophomore quarterbacks Josh Powell and Andrew DeFelice combined to pass for 415 yards. But Powell had to leave the game midway through the third quarter after getting injured and DeFelice couldn’t complete the comeback.
Canyons had two chances to take the lead in the first quarter, but came up empty. Returning all-conference kicker Paul Weinstein missed field goals of 45 and 41 yards.
Late in the first, Powell drove the Vikings deep into Canyons territory. On third-and-seven from the COC 14-yard line, Powell hit freshman receiver Johnny McNeil for what appeared to be a nine-yard reception and a first down.
But the play was erased after the Vikings were flagged for an illegal procedure penalty, their fourth of the drive. Three plays later, LBCC was forced to settle for a field goal try from 36 yards out that was missed by freshman Dustin Abrams.
Canyons finally broke the deadlock early in the second. A 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Andrew Miramontes to wide receiver Jovanne Augustus at the 13:53 mark capped a seven-play, 80-yard drive. Weinstein missed his third straight kick and COC led 6-0.
Weinstein figured things out with his successful 35-yard field goal try with 8:52 left in the second to give Canyons a 9-0 lead.
Long Beach finally got on the board at the 5:57 mark in the second. Powell tossed a 33-yard reception to sophomore Aron Lewis and three plays later threw another 33-yarder to freshman Stephen Burton for a touchdown.
The LBCC defense stuffed Canyons on its next drive and the offense had the ball for one last scoring drive before the end of the half.
Powell orchestrated another long drive (nine plays, 68 yards) to give the Vikings their first lead.
Freshman Eric Mayfield had a 19-yard catch and Burton was stopped at the COC two-yard line after his 20-yard reception. A one-yard run and five-yard procedure penalty put the ball back to the six-yard line before Powell connected with freshman tight end Dalton Etimani for the short TD to give Long Beach the 14-9 advantage at the break.
Canyons came out gunning in the second half. Miramontes drove the Cougars 71 yards after his three-yard TD pass to Fred Winborn. Miramontes’ two-point PAT run gave Canyons the 17-14 lead.
Powell and DeFelice combined to lead the Vikings on their final scoring drive.
But it took an impressive 85-yard kickoff return from sophomore Mike Hyman to get them in position for that score.
On LBCC’s first play of the drive, Powell was knocked out of the game after his three-yard rush out of bounds.
DeFelice got the job done, hitting Lewis for the 12-yard touchdown pass two plays later and Long Beach led 21-17 at the 7:28 mark.
But that would be it for the Vikings.
Canyons got a 10-yard touchdown run from Raphael Reynolds at 4:52 in the third and sealed the win with a 72-yard Miramontes touchdown pass to Hayo Carpenter.
Powell threw for 224 yards and two TDs on 19 of 26 passing while DeFelice totaled 191 yards passing with his 12 for 26 effort with one interception and a touchdown.
Burton caught 5 passes for 101 yards to lead all LBCC receivers while freshman Darren Tubbs was the Vikings’ top rusher with just 40 yards.
On defense, freshman cornerback Scotty Miranda (7 solo, 2 assisted) and sophomore William Alo (4 solo, 5 assisted) both had nine tackles.
“We shot ourselves in the foot,” said LBCC head coach Jerry Jaso. “We gave up some big plays and made too many mistakes, which is to be expected from a young team like this.”
“We moved the ball well, we just couldn’t get it done in the red zone,” he added. “If we convert in the red zone, we win the game.”
Long Beach (0-1) returns to action next Saturday (Sep 8) when it travels to L.A. Harbor College for a 5pm non-conference game. |
