Football Opens Conference with Big Win Over Mt. San Antonio

The Long Beach City College football team upset the No. 5/6 Mount San Antonio College Mounties 27-20 in their first conference game of the 2017 season. The Vikings now improve their record to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in conference.

The offense for both sides came out to play in the first half of the game. The Mounties were the first to put up points on the board with a field goal in the 12th min of the first quarter. Sophomore wide receiver Mike Wilson was next up take the lead for the Vikings with a seven-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Grant Lowary. Mount San Antonio College finalized the quarter 10-7 with their first touchdown to keep the lead from the Vikings.

In the second quarter, The Mounties kept their offensive momentum by scoring a 37 yard field goal. Sophomore wide receiver Jabari Minix then scored a touchdown down to steal the lead by one point. Mount San Antonio ended the half with another touchdown to surpass the Vikings 20-14.

The Viking defense took control in the second half and shut out the Mounties completely from scoring. Freshman kicker Clay D'Amico brought in the golden foot and scored back-to-back field goals to tie the game 20-20.

In the fourth and final quarter with eight minutes left in the conference game, the Vikings advanced the ball 75 yards for freshman running back Maurhqeze Mason to run the ball into the end zone for the final winning touchdown.  

Long Beach's offense netted 262 yards in passing, while the defense totaled two sacks to push the Mounties back five yards. Freshman defensive back Justin Prince led the defense with 12 total tackles. Freshman defensive back Nehemiah Shelton and sophomore linebacker Jalal Thomas both had interception returns for a total of 15 yards for the Vikings.

Long Beach football will play again on Saturday, Oct. 21 at Chaffey College in their second conference game.