No. 2 Golden West Routs Orange Coast 69-6 in 55th Battle of the Bell

COSTA MESA – No. 2 state-ranked Golden West College continued its dominance of rival Orange Coast College as the Rustlers rolled to an impressive 69-6 victory over the Pirates in the 55^th meeting of the Battle of the Bell game on Saturday at OCC's LeBard Stadium.  

The Rustlers won their eighth straight rivalry game over the Pirates since 2016 while Golden West has taken 13 of the last 14 matchups.

More importantly, Golden West continued its unbeaten run this season, improving to 7-0 overall on the field for the first time since 2015. The Rustlers currently lead the National Central League standings at 4-0.

On Saturday, the Rustlers controlled all facets of the game. Golden West totaled a season-high 662 yards of offense while the defense limited Orange Coast to just nine first downs and returned a pair of interceptions for touchdowns.

Nine different Rustlers found the end zone with a trio of quarterbacks tossing touchdown passes in the dominant effort. Golden West opened the scoring on its first drive when QB Kauna'oa Kamakawiwo'ole connected with Tanner Schmidt for a long 74-yard TD.

Orange Coast (0-7, 0-4 NCL) responded with a seven-play, 61-yard drive that resulted in a short passing touchdown. The Pirates' two-point conversion was unsuccessful and Golden West led 7-6 at the 9:42 mark in the first.

From that point, it was all Golden West as the Rustlers went on to score 62 unanswered points.  

GWC got touchdown runs from Nainoa Simmons (2 yards) and Kendric Thomas (1 yard) to close out the first quarter. The Rustlers put up 27 points in the second with Orlanda Bustamante's 61-yard interception return for a touchdown opening the quarter.

Ayden Goodwin hauled in a seven-yard TD pass from Kamakawiwo'ole and David Daniels' touchdown reception from Noa Banua went for 25 yards. Banua threw his second touchdown, a 57-yarder to JD Alicea to send the Rustlers into halftime with a commanding 48-6 advantage.

OCC surrendered more points on its opening drive of the second half thanks to a 67-yard interception return for a TD by Jackson Bennet. Daniels hauled in his second TD, this time from Drew Larson for 19 yards and Max Riggs nailed a 20-yard field goal to close the Rustlers scoring in the third quarter.

Larson ran in for a touchdown from 21 yards out at the 14:19 mark in the fourth to wrap up the victory.

Kamakawiwo'ole (7-10-213, 2 TDs), Banua (5-7-92, 2 TDs), and Larson (2-3-26, 1 TD) combined 331 yards on 14 of 20 passing with 5 TDs and no interceptions. Schmidt had a pair of catches for 126 yards and a TD while Alicea also had 2 receptions for 92 yards and a TD. Daniels hauled in a pair of TD receptions and totaled 44 yards on 2 catches.

Ardwon Morris had 8 carries for 88 yards, and Kalen Montgomery totaled 78 yards on 9 carries to lead the Rustlers.

The defense was led by Garrett Goade on his 8 tackles. Brandon Soleau had 3 tackles and sack while Bustamante, Bennet, and Jerome Lilio all had interceptions.

Golden West will look to match its 8-0 record to start the season in 2015 next Saturday (Oct. 25) when the Rustlers host Cerritos College in a National Central League game at noon.