It was another rough day for the Long Beach City College football team, as the Vikings suffered a 51-14 non-conference loss to visiting Ventura College in their home opener on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

 The Vikings defense allowed 50+ points for the second consecutive week, while the LBCC offense managed just eight first down and 125 total yards.

Long Beach trailed 10-0 in the second quarter after Ventura's Carlos Luna nailed a 34-yard field goal early in the contest and a one-yard touchdown run from the Pirates' Chase Smith at the 8:59 mark in the second.

On the ensuing kickoff, Long Beach freshman Keltain Malveaux (Poly HS) ran it back 75 yards to give the Vikings the ball at the Ventura 19-yard line. Two plays later, freshman quarterback Nick Pope (Poly HS) connected with sophomore wide receiver Richard Wheeler (Poly HS) for an 11-yard touchdown.

The Pirates responded with 35 unanswered points, including a pair of touchdowns before halftime to extend their lead to 24-7 at the break.

In the third quarter, the Vikings committed three errors that resulted in three more touchdowns by Ventura over a five minute span.

Long Beach fumbled the ball away on the second-half opening kickoff, fumbled the snap on a punt deep in its own territory, and had a punt blocked to all set up easy Ventura touchdowns. LBCC trailed 45-7 with still 10:55 left in the third.

The Vikings finally broke up the scoring run with a nine-play, 72-yard drive that was finished with a four-yard touchdown reception by sophomore running back Jared Ginter (St. John Bosco HS) from freshman quarterback Casey Nielsen (Gahr HS).

Ventura put an exclamation point on the win with a fourth-quarter touchdown to close a 10-play, 72 yard drive. Joe Mendoza caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from third-string quarterback Brad Odemon with 9:06 left in the contest to close out the scoring.

Sophomore Jede Fue (Wilson HS) led the LBCC defense with 11 tackles (7 solo). Sophomore Montez Hunter (Artesia HS, pictured) and Malveaux both had eight tackles and two pass break ups.

Ventura (2-0) quarterback Ebahn Feathers led the Pirates' offense, completing 17 of 25 passes for 156 yards and three touchdowns.

Long Beach, now 0-2, will host Orange Coast College next Saturday at 1 pm.

Photo by Chris Ruiz