Football: Long Beach starts strong, falls at Santa Ana 42-7

The Long Beach City College football team is still in search of its first win after suffering a 42-7 non-conference loss against Santa Ana College at Eddie West Field on Saturday. 

What started well for the Vikings in the first quarter quickly turned bad over the final three.

The Viking defense held Santa Ana scoreless during its first three drives of the contest before the Dons finally broke the the deadlock with 50 seconds left in the first. A four-yard touchdown run by Divonte Beale capped a seven-play, 58-yard drive and Santa Ana was up 7-0 heading into the second.

The Dons scored two more times before the half with both touchdowns being caught by Joshua Webb. His first touchdown was from 49 yards out before making a five-yard touchdown catch later in the second. Both touchdowns were thrown by Hayden Gavett.

Beau Perry later replaced Gavett and threw a touchdown pass of his own when he connected with Woody Quinn in the third quarter for a 25-yard touchdown.

The Dons final two touchdowns belonged to the defense. Joshua Butcher returned an interception 33 yards for a score in the third quarter before Kameron Lavine returned an interception 27 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Between the two interceptions, Long Beach scored its lone touchdown of the game on a six-yard touchdown pass from Nick Pope to Metui Manu-Auga in the early minutes of the fourth quarter.

That was one of the few bright spots of the day for the Vikings. Sophomore Jede Fue also played a solid game for Long Beach as he totaled six tackles, blocked a Santa Ana field goal, and recovered a fumble.

Pope completed 14 of 28 passes for 143 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Jared Ginter ran the ball 20 times for 84 yards and Rodney Morgan had five catches for 33 yards.

Long Beach, now 0-6, has next week off before returning to Central Conference action on October 20 when it hosts Los Angeles Harbor College at 6 p.m.

Photo: LBCC's Nick Pope is stopped just short of the goal line in the Vikings' loss at Santa Ana (By Chris Ruiz)