"It was pretty crazy," Orange Coast College starting quarterback Kyle Manning said to sum up the last two minutes of a 24-21 victory.After the Pirates took a 17-7 lead with 2:33 left in the game, in just 37 seconds, Golden West College's Mike VanDeripe quickly threw a 41-yard touchdown to Matt James to get the game back to a one-possession game.
The Rustlers, with no time outs left, had to go for an onside kick.
For a moment, it looked like the Rustlers could make a comeback as they recovered the kick, but a flag was thrown for touching the ball before it passed 10 yards.
Pirates, instead of running out the clock with simple runs, called a pitch run for Ray Holley.
This resulted in a touchdown but the Pirates only took off 50 seconds - giving Golden West a chance to score and retrieve the onside kick.
"We scored too fast," Coast head coach Mike Taylor said. "We needed to run more time off the clock."
The Rustlers, once again, quickly scored - this time off of a three-yard pass to Brandon Grissom in a eight play drive that lasted only 40 seconds.
With 13 seconds left in the game, the Rustlers got the onside kick again and this time there were no flags.
First pass, incomplete. Second pass, incomplete - but one second was left on the clock and a flag on the field for roughing the passer.
Golden West, now 53-yards away from tying the game with a field goal, attempted a last-second kick, but it came well short and the Pirates won the game.
"It was a hard-fought game," Taylor said. "I’m proud of the players and coaches and we got to get ready for Glendale next week and the Hall of Fame weekend."
The West-Coast Showdown is tied up at 20-20-2 and this is the first time Orange Coast College has won the bell three times in a row.
The Pirates are now 3-0 and the Rustlers are 0-3.
[Photo by Tony Lee]
