The downward slide for the Long Beach City College football team continued as the Vikings suffered a 75-12 National Central Conference loss to visiting Riverside City College on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Long Beach is now 0-5 (0-2 NCC) to start the season and has lost seven straight games dating back to last season. Riverside, ranked No. 3 in Southern California and No. 7 in the nation, improved to 4-1 and 2-0 in conference play.
The Vikings were doomed from their first offensive play of the game. Freshman quarterback Nick Pope (pictured) and sophomore running back Jared Ginter couldn't connect on a hand off which resulted in a fumble recovery by Riverside's John Taylor on the LBCC 22-yard line.
Two plays later, RCC quarterback Zach Adkins hit Jamil Austin for a 26-yard touchdown pass and the Tigers were quickly ahead 7-0 just 39 seconds into the game.
The passing attack continued by Adkins as he tossed four more touchdown passes to give RCC a commanding 35-0 lead at the 12:32 mark in the second quarter.
LBCC finally broke up the shutout when Pope tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to freshman Rodney Morgan to cap a 12-play, 85-yard drive with 7:12 left in the second.
Even when the Vikings scored, Riverside found a way to spoil it. On the extra-point try, David Becerra's kick was blocked by RCC's Chris Gonzalez and Tray Hall returned it all the way back to the Viking's end zone for a two-point PAT return. The Tigers held a 37-6 lead with no relief in sight for the Vikings.
Adkins closed out his afternoon with a 65-yard touchdown pass to Devonn Brown with 2:15 left in the second and RCC was up 44-6 at halftime.
Backup quarterback Tyler Shreve continued the offensive show for the Tigers as he tossed three touchdowns in the third quarter. Tyler Rausa added a 39-yard field goal and Riverside led 65-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
Morgan and Pope connected again for another 15-yard touchdown pass at the 14:54 mark in the fourth quarter to close out the Long Beach scoring.
Third-string RCC quarterback Max Holmes closed out the blowout when he ran for a 47-yard touchdown run on fourth down with 7:29 left in the contest.
The Tigers' offense totaled 643 yards with Adkins leading the way throwing for 346 yards on 18 of 23 passing with six touchdowns in the first half alone.
For the Vikings, Pope completed 17 of 47 yards for 196 yards and two touchdowns. Morgan caught six passes for 65 yards and two TDs.
Long Beach will look to snap its winless streak next Saturday (Oct 6) when it takes a break from conference play and travels to Santa Ana College for a 1 pm game.
Photo by John Fajardo