Sophomore wide receiver Travon Payne tied a school record with four receiving touchdowns while sophomore quarterback Ryan Craighead threw for 468 yards and five touchdowns to help lead Long Beach City College to a 54-47 non-conference win over visiting Los Angeles Pierce College on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Long Beach recorded season highs with 54 points, 530 offensive yards, and 505 passing yards and needed all of it to outlast Pierce in the offensive shootout.
Pierce led 7-6 after a relatively calm first quarter before the Vikings blew the game open with 20 second-quarter points. Freshman Joel Panteau ran in from one yard out before Craighead tossed a pair of touchdowns to Payne (22, 25 yards). Pierce got a 73-yard interception return for a touchdown from Cody Berry and Long Beach was up 26-14 at halftime.
The game got offensive in the third as the teams combined to put up 40 points. Neither team was able to stop their opponent from scoring in the quarter.
Pierce's Joseph Morris caught two TD passes (37, 11 yards) from quarterback Matt Rasmussen while Sean Morris of LBCC matched him with two touchdown catches (41, 70 yards) from Craighead to put the Vikings up 40-27 with still 8:34 to go in the third quarter.
The pace finally slowed, but Pierce capped a 12-play, 65-yard drive with a one-yard quarterback sneak from Rasmussen to cut LBCC's lead to 40-33 at the 3:25 mark.
Long Beach pulled out some trickery to pad its lead late in the third. Craighead tossed a backwards pass to sophomore wide receiver Willie Bobbitt. He ran right and then lofted a pass to Payne open downfield for a 37-yard touchdown to put Long Beach ahead 47-33 heading into the fourth.
The Vikings appeared to be on their way to the win, but Pierce didn't go down easy. Rasmussen tossed a 50-yard TD to Tali Satterfield-Row to get Pierce within seven points (47-40) at 9:52.
Long Beach came right back on its first play after kickoff to score. Craighead and Payne connected once again for a 72-yard touchdown with 9:40 to go and Long Beach was ahead 54-40.
Rasmussen answered with his fifth touchdown pass of the day, hitting Morris for 61 yards for his third touchdown catch to gut the lead once again to seven at 54-47 with 3:43 remaining.
On LBCC's ensuing drive, three incomplete passes and a pair of false start penalties gave Pierce the ball back at the Long Beach 34-yard line with 2:36 left on the clock.
Five consecutive pass completions later, Rasmussen had drive Pierce to the Vikings' 13-yard line and looked poised to tie the game. Three plays later, Pierce faced a fourth-down and five-yards to go situation from the Long Beach eight-yard line. Rasmussen dropped back to pass, but was forced out of the pocket by LBCC's David Haley. His rushed pass fell incomplete, giving the ball back as well as the game to the Vikings.
It was an impressive offensive game for Long Beach. Payne closed the game with 11 receptions for 216 yards and four touchdowns. Craighead's 468 passing yards ranks No. 3 on the all-time single game LBCC record book while his five TD passes tied him for third most in a game. He closed the contest completing 27 of 43 passes.
Sean Morris also posted a big game with five catches for 146 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman Jerramie Jackson added a one-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
On defense, freshman defensive back Dennis Buckner led the Vikings with nine tackles (8 solo) and two pass breakups. Long Beach also totaled four sacks, including two by sophomore defensive end Paul Felder.
For Pierce (0-4), Rasmussen threw for 383 yards on 23 of 38 passing with five TDs. Joseph Morris caught seven passes for 197 yards and three touchdowns.
Long Beach (1-3) returns to action next Saturday (Oct 1) when it travels to face Santa Ana College in a 1 pm non-conference game.