The Pirate football team held off a strong effort from Long Beach City College 33-31 at the Sportsplex on Saturday night,finishing the regular season with a 9-1 mark. Thomas Duckett was superb with 216 yards rushing on 31 carries while Travis Koontz had eight pass receptions for 49 yards, including three touchdowns. Kegan Romero had two interceptions, Dondre Baker recorded nine tackles, and Jaylen Watson had eight stops and four pass break-ups on defense for Ventura (9-1, 4-1).
The teams traded punts on the first four possessions of the game, but the Pirates won the field position battle when the Vikings shanked a kick, taking over at their own 39-yard line. VC responded with a 53 yard pass play from Brock Domann to Juan Gaytan, but the Vikings held from there, forcing a 21-yard Kyle Continente field goal. The Pirates led 3-0 with 3:46 left in the opening quarter.
On the last play of the quarter, Long Beach struck with the big play as they had an 80-yard run to paydirt. The PAT but the Vikings on top 7-3 at the end of the first stanza.
VC was held to a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, and LBCC took advantage, driving down the field for a 35-yard field goal and a 10-3 advantage. After another short Ventura possession, the Vikings scored a touchdown on a 41-yard pass play to take control of the game, 17-3 at the 5:58 mark of the period.
Jared Thomsen's 20-yard kick return to the Pirate 45-yard line set up the next drive. Then, on the legs of Domann and Duckett, VC drove 37 yards in seven plays to set up a 35-yard field goal by Ian Henzi.
The Ventura special teams came up big on the ensuing kickoff, forcing a fumble on the kick return. Calvin Williams recovered the ball at the LBCC 23-yard line to set up another shot field. The Pirate offense, however, could not cash in. After a 22-yard run by Duckett to the doorstep of the goal line, the Pirates were stopped on three straight plays, and VC settled for a 24-yard field goal by Continente and a 17-9 deficit with 1:46 left in the half.
Long Beach used three big plays, a 28-yard kick return and pass plays of 36 and 25 yards, respectively, to answer with a touchdown.
With 1:07 left in the second quarter, VC quickly went to work. Domann completed two passes to Chris Brooks for 31 and 11 yards, then ran for 14 yards to the LBCC 25-yard line before calling timeout with 28 seconds left. The drive stalled at that point, however, and the Pirates settled for another field goal, this one from 39-yards by Henzi. Ventura trailed at halftime 24-12.
The Pirate offense finally got untracked late in the third quarter. Domann completed a pass to Travis Koontz for a 25-yard touchdown, completing an 8-play, 69-yard drive with 3:41 left in the period. Continente's kick narrowed the gap to 24-19.
THe it was the defense's turn with the big play. On the next LBCC drive, Romero grabbed the first of his two interceptions, leading to another VC score. Duckett rushed for 59 of the 82 yards on the drive, and a 1-yard strike from Domann to Koontz found paydirt. On the PAT, Domann found Dominic Benson to complete the 2-point conversion, and VC took a 27-24 lead with 13:01 left to play.
After the VC defense forced another three-and-out by the Vikings, another short punt set up great field position for Ventura at the LBCC 35. After a pair of Duckett 7-yard gains, Domann found Koontz for the pair's third touchdown pass and catch. The extra point kick was blocked, however, and VC held a 33-24 advantage with 10:23 on the clock.
With time running down, Long Beach made things interesting. The Vikings scored a touchdown with 2;21 remaining and the PAT closed the Pirate margin to two points, 33-31.
Ventura recovered the Vikings onsides kick, and virtually ran the clock out. Long Beach had one last chance with the ball at their own 5-yard line, but the Pirate defense shut the door four plays later. Ventura prevailed in the hard-fought contest 33-31.
Domann finished the night completing 11 of 20 passes for 165 yards and three scores. He also added 60 yards on the ground.
Earlier in the week, head coach Steve Mooshagian technically became VC's winningest head coach when Fullerton was forced to forfeit its victory over the Pirates on Sept. 29. The Pirates earned that honor for Mooshagian on the field Saturday with the victory. In nine seasons, he now has a career record of 68-29, surpassing the 66-win total of former head coach Dick James.
And with the win, the Pirates posted the fifth 9-win season since 1964. James' 1976 team finished 9-1, and current assistant head coach Terry Morris directed back-to-back 9-win seasons in 1998 and 1999. Mooshagian directed VC to its best football campaign ever in 2012, finishing the regular season at 10-0, and receiving a forfeit against Bakersfield after losing the SCFA semifinal that year for an 11-0 mark.
Finally, with the win, the Pirates look to a likely SCFA semifinal berth as an at-large selection, the program's third straight playoff berth, and its fourth in the past five years.