Football: Long Beach snaps three-game losing streak with 23-14 win over Antelope Valley

The Long Beach City College football team bounced back from its toughest loss since 1991 with a 23-14 SCFA Central Division West Conference win over visiting Antelope Valley College on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Sophomore quarterback Gabriel Thomas also bounced back from one of his toughest games on the field and the Long Beach defense came together for one of its best performances of the season to lead LBCC to the win.

The victory snapped the Vikings three-game losing streak and improved them to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in conference play. Antelope Valley fell to 2-6 and 0-3 in the West Conference.

Last week, the Vikings were shutout for the first time since their 1991 season finale. But the LBCC offense quickly erased any ideas of a second straight shutout with a 10-play, 73-yard scoring drive in the first quarter.

Thomas and the Vikings mixed in short passes with end-around sweeps and reverse to storm down the field on what looked like a confused Antelope Valley defense.

Freshman running back Jared Ginter capped the scoring drive with a two-yard run at the 6:11 mark to give the Vikings the early 7-0 lead.

The Long Beach offense began to sputter from that point, but the Viking defense picked up the slack. On the Marauders' next possession, LBCC halted a nine-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a 24-yard field goal by Kyle Steffes with 4:08 to go in the first.

The LBCC defense came up big again just before the end of the first. Deep in his own territory, Thomas had his pass deflected at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by Dominique McCrary at the LBCC three-yard line. AVC looked poised to capitalize but the Vikings defense pushed back and held the Marauders to another short field goal (22 yards) by Steffes.

Sophomore David Covey put LBCC up 10-6 after he nailed a 34-yard field goal in the third to set up a wild fourth quarter.

In the fourth, Thomas orchestrated a nine-play, 67-yard drive that included a big 19-yard run by him on third-down and four to put LBCC on Antelope Valley's 15-yard line. He then connected with freshman wide receiver Willie Bobbitt for the 15-yard TD to give Long Beach some breathing room at 17-6.

But AVC wasn't out just yet. On the ensuing kickoff, Quinn Bell raced 97 yards on the return for the touchdown and with a two-point conversion, the Marauders were down by three (17-14).

LBCC came right back to put the game away on its next drive. Thomas hit freshman wide receiver Alex McGriff on a perfect slant route that cut through the AVC defense and 56 yards later, McGriff was in for the touchdown to seal the win.

The Long Beach defense allowed just 181 total yards to AVC. The Vikings held the Marauders to 3 of 12 on third-down conversions and sacked Marauder quarterback Josh Firm eight times. Freshman Paul Felder led the charge with three sacks with four tackles while sophomore Moses Tili posted two sacks to go along with nine total tackles (7 solo) and three quarterback hurries.

Other standouts on the Viking defense included freshman Dionte Hargrove (8 tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass breakup), sophomore Fred Rogers (2 interceptions, 6 tackles), and freshman Deansol Vaeao (4 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 1.5 sacks, 2 QB hurries).

Thomas threw for a season-high 213 yards on 16 of 33 passing with two touchdowns and an interception. He also gained 69 yards on the ground but ended the game with only 17 yards rushing after he was also sacked eight times.

Firm passed for 109 yards and was 14 of 29 with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

Long Beach returns to action next Saturday (Nov. 6) when it closes out the 2010 home schedule with its Homecoming game against Chaffey College. Kickoff for the West Conference game is set for 1 pm at Veterans Memorial Stadium.