Freshman Marcus Montero (pictured) came off the bench and threw for 256 yards with four touchdowns and sophomore Travon Payne caught 8 passes for 190 yards to help lead the Long Beach City College football team to a 45-21 Central West Conference win at Chaffey College on Saturday.
With the win, Long Beach improved to 5-4 overall and 4-0 in the Central West Conference with just one game left to play. A win in next week's regular-season finale against 3-1 Citrus College would earn the Vikings the CWC title outright and a spot in the Central Division Championship Bowl.
Trailing 7-3 early in the first quarter, Long Beach rallied for 35 unanswered points. Montero tossed three TDs to Payne for 10, 52, and 46 yards, hit sophomore Mike Evans for a five-yard touchdown, and Emeka Agamegwa ran in from five yards out to give the Vikings a commanding 38-7 advantage with 8:00 left in the third quarter.
Evans caught his second touchdown from Montero, a 17-yard strike, to put Long Beach up 45-14 with 14:13 left in the game.
Montero closed his afternoon completing 16 of 27 passes with one interception. Sophomore Ryan Craighead left the game midway in the second quarter after throwing for 104 yards on 7 of 14 passing with one touchdown and an interception.
Freshman Dennis Buckner led the LBCC defense with 10 tackles (9 solo). Freshman Ariel Arguello had five tackles with a forced fumble, an interception, and a blocked PAT kick. Sophomore Roosevelt Payne had a pair of interceptions to go with four tackles.
Long Beach and Citrus are set to square off next Saturday (Nov. 12) at 1 pm at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Photo: Freshman quarterback Marcus Montero drops back to pass vs. Golden West earlier this season (Photo by Carlos Verdugo)
