Wildcats Football Drops Season Opener

The West Los Angeles College football team opened its 2011 season on campus Saturday afternoon and suffered a 27-14 nonconference defeat to Citrus.

One key to the loss was the Wildcats' inability to run the ball. They rushed 24 times and gained 31 yards for a meager average of 1.3 yards per carry. Steven Cross was their leader, with 20 yards in two carries.

"We didn't do well with our interior blocking and then when we fell behind, we had to throw the ball more," West LA head coach Marguet Miller said. "We have young guys at key spots and they were showing some nerves."

West LA had more success in the passing game, as starting quarterback Tory Whitfield completed 13 of 24 attempts for 138 yards and LeAndre Thompson connected on 14 of 22 passes for 180 yards and one interception. Trevon Davis attempted one pass and it was intercepted.

"I thought we moved the ball well throughout the second half and we got inside the 10-yard three times in the fourth quarter," Miller said. "Unfortunately, we had a couple of dropped passes and an interception in the end zone that cost us points."

Citrus quarterback Blake Loncar completed 32 of 59 passes for 434 yards and four touchdowns—the first a 23-yarder to Kelvin Chatham, who made a one-handed grab in the left corner of the end zone. Loncar nearly threw for another score, but returning defensive back Travis Cabral picked off a pass at the goal line. 

The Owls had 28 first downs to West LA's 17 and amassed 539 yards on offense—190 more than the Wildcats. 

"We're really excited about our team right now," West LA Athletic Director Steve Aggers said. "Coach Miller and his staff have done a great job."

Darrien Patterson had nine tackles, Ike McCullough and Cabral had eight apiece and Davonte Smith, Marquis Bradley and Gilbert Dominguez each added eight for West LA, which played even with Citrus in the second half.  

"The defense kept us in it as long as they could," Miller said. "The other team had more than 90 plays."

Citrus ran 98 offensive plays and West LA ran 71.

It wasn't until late in the third quarter that the Wildcats scored their first points of the season, but they did so in exciting fashion as wide receiver Donald Drisdom hauled in a 85-yard touchdown pass from Tory Whitfield. However, Shadrach Gunn missed the extra-point kick and West LA trailed 13-6.

"Both of our quarterbacks are young and at first I think they were hesitant to throw the ball, but we told them to just complete their drops and let it go," Miller said.

Drisdom finished with three receptions for 98 yards, Marco Bailey had three catches for 56 yards and Trevon Davis added seven receptions for 36 yards for the Wildcats, who lost at Citrus 35-26 in last year's opener.

With 15 seconds left in the game, Elijah Jones caught a three-yard touchdown pass from LeAndre Thompson to cap a four-play, 45-yard drive. Thompson ran in the two-point conversion to provide the final margin. Jones caught five passes for 70 yards.

West L.A. will try to bounce back Saturday at 1 p.m. when it hosts Compton College.

"We have to focus on us... cleaning up our mistakes and executing better in the red zone," Miller said. "We worked on these things in practice all summer, now we have to apply it to the games."

Considering how long it was on the field, West LA's defense held up as well as could be expected Saturday, and one reason is conditioning.

"My communication with [strength coach] Larry Parker has been good for the past three years, so the players are pretty fit," West LA head athletic trainer Victor Pullido said. "He keeps them in pretty good shape and applies all the principles of training in there and that's why they're well-conditioned."

Click here for the complete stats of the season opener against Citrus.

Score by Quarters

1

2

3

4

Final

Citrus

13

0

7

27

West LA

0

0

6

Scoring Summary

Citrus -- Chatham 23 pass from Loncar (kick failed), 12:10 left in 1st qtr.

Citrus -- Dooley 11 pass from Loncar (Magallon kick), 5:51 left in 1st qtr.

West LA -- Drisdom 85 pass from Whitfield (kick failed), 2:48 left in 3rd qtr.

Citrus -- Johnson 78 pass from Loncar (Magallon kick), 2:22 left in 3rd qtr.

Citrus -- Kepley 40 pass from Loncar (Magallon kick), 14:52 left in 4th qtr.

West LA -- Jones 3 pass from Thompson (Thompson run), 0:15 left in 4th qtr.

Records: Citrus 1-0, 0-0; West Los Angeles 0-1, 0-0.