Orange Coast Looking to Reverse Fortunes

Setting a record usually is appealing, but the Orange Coast football team wants no part of this one.

The Pirates (0-3) already have tied the college’s mark for consecutive losses (11) and hope to stop the streak when they play host to Riverside (1-2) tonight at 7 in a Mission Conference Central Division game.

One key area Orange Coast must improve in to win is its running game. The Pirates have a minus-24 yards in rushing offense.

A struggling offensive line, which has given up a minus-110 yards in quarterback sacks, has compounded the problem. As a result, Andre Stewart is the team’s leading rusher with 36 yards in 12 carries.

Orange Coast also has the worst ranked defense in the 13-team conference. The Pirates have given up an average of 419 yards and have given up 15 touchdowns.

In other divisional games:

Golden West (1-2) at Saddleback (2-1), 1 p.m.--Saddleback is ranked 16th in the nation by the J.C. Grid-Wire. The Gauchos are fifth in the conference in total offense (340 yards a game). Golden West is averaging 256 yards but opponents have scored the same number of touchdowns--eight.

Santa Ana (0-3) vs. Palomar (1-2), San Marcos High, 1:30 p.m.--Santa Ana has had trouble against passing teams, giving up five touchdowns to El Camino quarterback Damion Ward in a 46-24 loss last Saturday. Palomar is ranked third in the conference in passing. The Comets average 240 yards a game but have a interception to passing touchdown ratio of six to three.