Rustlers Ring the Bell

Golden West wanted no part of "Sophomore Night," no part of Domenic Betts' record-breaking performance, and absolutely no part in surrendering the treasured Victory Bell it claimed in the "West Coast Showdown" last year.

On a night designated to celebrate the accomplishments of all the sophomores on Orange Coast's squad, it was the sophomore duo of Raymond Huizar and Jared Cohen that led the visiting Rustlers to victory.

Huziar and Cohen hooked up for a pair of touchdowns in the second half, including what wound up being the winning score, as Golden West erased a 14-point second half deficit to defeat its rival, 27-20, on Saturday evening at Orange Coast College.

"Any time we play OCC it's a big game," Rustlers coach Nick Mitchell said. "We knew it was going to be tough and I couldn't be more proud of our guys for the way they played in the second half."

The Rustlers, trailing by two scores in the third quarter, produced consecutive scoring drives to pull even.

On Golden West's third drive of the half, Huizar converted a fourth-and-17 from the Pirates' 29-yard line, then connected with Cohen a couple plays later for the go-ahead touchdown.

"We thought we needed to settle down and regroup at halftime," Mitchell said. "When we came out, we did things that we thought we could do and we just made plays when it counted in the second half."

For OCC, Betts added yet another chapter in his prolific freshman season by breaking the school's all-time single season rushing record with a 38-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

He finished with 223 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns.