The Long Beach City College football team fell to 0-2 on the season with its 65-20 non-conference loss to El Camino College on Saturday night at Murdock Stadium. With the win, El Camino retains possession of “The Battle Axe,” the perpetual trophy held by the winner of the annual rivalry game.
The game was never close. Thanks to a pair of costly turnovers, El Camino (2-0) jumped out to a 30-0 lead after just the first quarter.
The Vikings finally got on the scoreboard at 9:02 in the second. Freshman quarterback Ryan Craighead connected with sophomore wide receiver Terry Dapremont for a 10-yard touchdown pass to cap a 7-play, 66-yard drive.
El Camino responded by scoring 28 unanswered points to jump ahead 58-7.
Freshman running back Daveon Barner broke that string with his two-yard TD run at the 12:43 mark in the fourth. After another ECC touchdown made it 65-13, sophomore wide receiver Darrius Young caught a 25-yard TD reception from freshman QB Kevin Lubner with 13 seconds left in the game to close out the scoring.
El Camino totaled 586 yards of offense, including 362 yards on the ground.
Barner was one of the lone bright spots for the Vikings as he collected 115 yards rushing on 20 attempts. Sophomore linebacker Gazzi Nansen led the LBCC defense with 8 tackles (5 solo) and a forced fumbled.
After a pair of big losses, it won’t get easier for Long Beach. The Vikings host rival Cerritos College next Saturday (Sept. 19) at 6 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Stadium with the winner taking home “The Crosstown Cup.”
From report by LBCC’s Chris Ruiz