The Long Beach City College team football suffered a 42-0 interdivision loss to visiting Golden West College on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium in both teams' 2011 season opener.
A pair of mistakes early in the first quarter put the Vikings in a deep hole that they couldn't get out of. On Golden West's opening drive, Rustlers quarterback Raymond Huizar took advantage of blown coverage by the LBCC defense and connected with wide receiver Andrew Williams for a wide-open 48-yard touchdown pass.
Two drives later, Golden West safety John Graves scooped up a fumble by LBCC running back Joel Panteau and returned it 50 yards for another touchdown. Long Beach trailed 13-0 at the 9:09 mark in the first quarter and was down 33-0 at halftime.
The Viking defense played better in the second half, but the offense still sputtered. The Vikings held Golden West scoreless on three of six red zone attempts and allowed just nine points in the second half. Sophomore linebacker Holman Faatili led the LBCC defense with eight tackles.
For the contest, Long Beach managed just 113 yards of offense including 61 yards on the ground and 52 passing yards.
Long Beach (0-1) will look to turn things around next Saturday (Sept. 10) when it travels to Orange Coast College for a 1 p.m. interdivision game.
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