Sophomore quarterback Kenny Potter (San Pedro HS) definitely made his presence felt in his season debut. On the Vikings' opening offensive play, Potter rushed for 75 yards on his way to totaling 362 yards to help lead Long Beach City College to a 42-13 non-league win over visiting Palomar College on Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Potter continued from where backup quarterback Brock Dale left off after leading the Viking offense to 513 yards against Moorpark last week. Tonight, Long Beach totaled a state-best 613 yards while the defense was just as tough, allowing just a pair of field goals and a fourth-quarter Palomar touchdown.
The Comets went 51 yards in their opening drive but managed just a 33-yard field goal by Patrick Koch to take an early 3-0 lead over the Vikings.
But from that point, it was all Long Beach. Potter broke a pair of tackles on his 75-yard run before being tackled out of bounds at Palomar's eight yard line. Sophomore Kameron White (Poly HS) closed out the drive on the next play with an 11-yard run for the touchdown to put the Vikings in front for good.
Potter threw a pair of TD passes, a 25-yard strike to sophomore Clayton Granch (Valley Christian HS) and an 11-yarder to freshman Michael Witt (San Pedro HS) to put Long Beach up 21-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Palomar broke up the Vikings' scoring run with another field goal by Koch, this time from 32 yards to make the score 21-6 early in the second. Long Beach responded with a 41-yard touchdown run by freshman Anterio Bateman (Serra HS) and he nearly had another, but his punt return for a TD was called back due to a holding penalty. Moments later, freshman Royce Moore (St. John Bosco HS) ran in from four yards out to give the Vikings a commanding 35-6 advantage at halftime.
Whitt and Potter connected for a second touchdown, this time from 16 yards to extend the LBCC lead to 42-6 at the 12:08 mark in the third before Potter was replaced by Dale.
Long Beach was content to run out the fourth quarter. With mainly reserves playing, the Vikings were finally held scoreless over the final period. Palomar managed to punch in its lone touchdown of the contest, getting a four-yard run from quarterback Mitch Betram with 14:25 left in the contest to close out the scoring.
Potter completed 15 of 28 passes for 219 yards. He tossed three touchdowns, but also had two passes intercepted. He also ran for a game-high 143 yards on nine carries. Bateman totaled 133 yards, running eight times for 95 yards while catching three passes for 38 yards.
Freshman Scotty Fao (Banning HS) led the Viking defense, posting 7.5 tackles with two sacks. Sophomore Matthew Rowe (Poly HS) also had 7.5 tackles and broke up a pass.
For Palomar (1-1), wide receiver M.J. Bailey caught six passes for 108 yards. On defense, Dylan Donahue led the Comers with 8.5 tackles and two quarterback hurries.
Long Beach, now 2-0, travels to Bakersfield College next Saturday (Sep. 20) for a 6 p.m. non-league game.