The No. 20 Long Beach City College football team put up a fight against No. 2 Riverside City College with a 45-40 loss on Saturday evening in the season opener at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Sophomore wide receiver Jaquavion Caldwell put the Vikings on the board first with a 39-yard hail mary from sophomore quarterback Will Madonna. The Tigers answered back with back-to-back touchdowns to lead into the second quarter 14-7.

Riverside took their longest lead of the evening in the top of the second quarter with another touchdown at the 10:31 mark, but then sophomore running back Tstrong Mataele squeezed through the Tigers for a 2-yard run to bring the Vikings up to 13 points.

Riverside put another on the board, but then sophomore wide receiver Ashun (Remil) Brown immediately caught a huge 97-yard bomb from Madonna to give life back to the Vikings and close in on the Tigers 28-21 going into halftime.

In the second half of the game, Madonna put it in the air again for sophomore wide receiver Kyle Miller with a 30-yard pass to bring the Vikings up to 28 points. Riverside retaliated with 7 more points, but the Vikings offense wasn't finished yet. Madonna looked to the sky again for a 65-yard throw to freshman wide receiver Cieonta Davis to only trail the Tigers by four points.

In the fourth quarter, both teams scored one more touchdown and the Vikings finished the game with a 45-40 loss against the Tigers.

The Long Beach City College Vikings will be back in action next Saturday, Sept. 9 at Bakersfield College at 6 p.m.