GAME STATS | SEASON STATS
September 15, 2007
Football:
Vikings can't hold on to halftime lead, fall to Saddleback 38-35
The Long Beach City College football team suffered a tough 38-35 loss to Saddleback College on Saturday at Veterans Stadium in both teams' Mission Football Conference opener.
The Vikings played an outstanding game for the first half and took advantage of six Saddleback turnovers to take a 24-3 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Viking defense came up big in the first in holding Saddleback to just three points. Sophomore linebacker William Alo was everywhere. He recovered three fumbles, including one for a touchdown, and broke up two passes.
Linebacker Jason Brown forced the fumble that resulted in Alo’s TD, broke up a pass, and had a 49-yard interception return for a touchdown of his own in the first quarter.
Long Beach sophomore quarterback Andrew DeFelice had the offense moving after throwing TD passes to sophomore Aron Lewis and Dalton Etimani to build the Vikings’ lead.
Apparently, LBCC forgot there was a second half to be played as Saddleback stormed out to score 27 unanswered points, including 21 in the third quarter, to take a 31-28 advantage.
Saddleback QB Brian Shock tossed consecutive touchdown passes to Nick Hutter (32 yards), Maurice Clark (9 yards), Cheyne Verhagen (7 yards), and Mike Tinoco (43 yards).
Long Beach finally got things together as DeFelice led the Vikings on a five-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by a one-yard touchdown run by freshman Johnny Toloumu to give back the Viking the lead at 35-31 with 11:46 left in the fourth.
The touchdown run was set up by a 53-yard end-around pass from freshman wide receiver Stephen Burton to freshman wide out Johnny McNeil.
But on the ensuing kickoff, Andrew Nikihei gave the Gauchos good starting field position with his 28-yard return to the 45-yard line. Nine plays later, Josh Ferrell stormed in for the eventual game-winning touchdown from the one yard out to close out the scoring at 38-35.
DeFelice closed the game throwing for 161 yards and two touchdowns on 14 of 24 passing with one interception. Etimani led the Vikings with eight receptions for 88 yards.
Linebacker Jonte Stroud posted a season-high 13 tackles (eight solo) and had a fumble recovery.
For Saddleback (3-0), Schrock ended with 324 yards and four TDs on 21 of 31 passing with two interceptions. He also ran for 63 yards on 13 carries. Hutter had a big game for the Gauchos with nine receptions for 120 yards.
The loss dropped Long Beach to 1-2 overall. LBCC plays at rival Cerritos College next Saturday (Sep 22) at 7 pm. |
