Another impressive Long Beach City College offensive outburst was wasted as the Vikings totaled over 500 yards for the fifth time in eight games this season in a 43-35 National Central Conference loss to visiting Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Long Beach freshman quarterback Kenny Potter (San Pedro HS) had another sensational game as he posted season-highs with 31 completions, 56 attempts, and 430 yards passing. But Mt. SAC (7-1, 4-0 NCC) was able to slow down the Vikings' offense on the ground by limiting Potter to just 34 yards rushing.
A trio of freshmen LBCC wide receivers also had big nights. De'Quan Hampton (Dominguez HS, pictured) hauled in a season-best 10 catches for 133 yards and a touchdown and Josiah Blandin (Poly HS) caught seven passes for 115 yards. Jeremy Villa (Downey HS) also had his biggest game in a Vikings' uniform, collecting seven passes for 98 yards and a touchdown.
Mt. SAC opened the game scoring 17 unanswered points before LBCC finally broke up the shutout when freshman Deonte Dixon (Paramount HS) capped an 11-play, 90-yard drive with a one-yard run to make the score 17-7 at the 9::19 mark in the second quarter.
Hampton's 11-yard touchdown catch from Potter with 34 seconds left in the second sent the Vikings into the locker room at halftime trailing by just three points at 20-17.
The Mounties finally pulled away in the fourth quarter. Former Long Beach Poly High School standout wide receiver Kaelin Clay caught a pair of touchdowns for Mt. SAC. His six-yard reception from Justin Alo all but sealed the win for the Mounties as they took a 43-27 advantage with just 2:21 left in the game.
But the Vikings didn't give up though. On the ensuing drive, Potter led LBCC on an eight-play, 72-yard drive that ended with a six-yard TD reception by sophomore Keith Lakey (Dorsey HS). The two-point PAT pass to Villa was good and LBCC was within eight points with 46 seconds to go. The Vikings couldn't recover the on-sides kick attempt and Mt. SAC was able to down the ball twice to run out the clock.
Freshman Terance Harvey (Inglewood HS) led the LBCC defense with 11 tackles (4 solo) while freshman Marquis Lomax (Narbonne HS) had seven tackles (2 solo) to go with a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry.
Long Beach, now 3-5 overall and 1-3 in conference play, had just two games left on the season schedule. The Vikings travel to Citrus College next Saturday (Nov 9) for a 1 p.m. game and close out the year at home against College of the Desert on November 16 in their annual Homecoming Game.
Photo by John Fajardo
