Palomar pounces on Pirates

COSTA MESA — While the bitter pill of defeat continued to occupy the palette of his teammates, Orange Coast College quarterback Kyle Manning was more likely to have swallowed dozens of rubber pellets kicked up by his frequent contact with the FieldTurf surface Saturday against visiting Palomar.

Battered and bruised by more than a dozen hits in the pocket, most of which he barely had time to brace against as he stood in and delivered the ball, Manning will have more than a tender psyche on which to receive treatment after a 41-9 National Division football bashing at the hands of the Comets.

At least he was spared the grass stains.

But Manning, too, was not without responsibility for the Pirates’ third straight lopsided loss. Even with time to throw — and he was sacked only once — he failed to connect with receivers. He finished 13 of 38 for 157 yards, with one interception.

He did hit Chris Reinhanifam with a 30-yard touchdown pass to provide the biggest offensive gain and only touchdown of the day for the Pirates (5-4, 1-4 in the division), ranked No. 24 in the state and No. 13 in Southern California.

At one point, Manning was five for 19 and his inconsistency, as well as that of freshman Ethan Whitsell, who briefly unseated Manning as the starter, has contributed to OCC being ranked No. 70 among 71 California schools in passing rating coming into Saturday.

The .342 completion percentage surely won’t help, but neither did a recently punchless running game.

Sophomore tailback Ray Holley, who had 988 rushing yards after the first six games, had just 47 yards on 24 attempts against the Comets (8-2, 4-2). He had only two runs of more than five yards Saturday, none of which went for more than nine.

In his last three games, Holley, who has played through a sprained a knee ligament sustained in the sixth game, has 193 yards on 79 rushing attempts. His season total, now 1,191 yards, is fourth-best in OCC single-season annals. He needs 252 yards to break the OCC record set by Jeff Clayton in 1993.

OCC converted two of Palomar’s four turnovers into points, as cornerback Tommy Gatewood, middle linebacker Eric Wiersma and safety Keahi Raikes all had interceptions for the Pirates.

Picks by Gatewood and Wiersma on back-to-back Palomar possessions, set OCC up at the Comets’ 25-yard line early in the second quarter.