LONG BEACH – Sophomore running back Jonathan Watson put the Long Beach City College offense on his back as he erupted for 241 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns to lead the Vikings to a 33-26 victory over visiting Ventura College in both teams' National Northern League opener at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday night.
LBCC bounced back from a tough loss to Golden West back on Oct. 1, but a much-needed bye week allowed the Vikings to refocus. Tonight's win improved Long Beach to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in league play.
Long Beach got off to an amazing start, opening the contest with 23 points as Watson ran in for touchdowns of 3 yards, 91 yards, and 2 yards over the first two quarters. Mario De la Torre added a 28-yard field goal to give LBCC the 23-0 advantage at the 9:15 mark in the second.
But Ventura (4-2, 0-1 NNC) responded with a 23-point surge of its own. A 3-yard Tim Greer touchdown pass from Ezekiel Savage II with 18 second left in the second sent the game into halftime all tied up at 23-23.
Watson's fourth and final TD put the Vikings back out in front for good. Long Beach opened the second half driving down the field 75 yards with Watson smashing his way in from 1 yard out for the score with 10:25 to go in the third quarter.
De la Torre added a 20-yard field goal in the fourth (9:04) to extend the LBCC lead to 33-23.
Ventura got within seven points after a 40-yard field goal with 4:02 to play, but the Vikings' defense smothered the Pirates on their final drive to close out the victory.
Long Beach doubled up on offense against Ventura, outgaining the Pirates 483-241 yards.
Watson averaged 7.1 yards per carry as he rushed 34 times for his career-high 241 yards. Quarterback Qeanu Campbell-Caldwell was solid, throwing for 213 yards on 15 of 28 passing. Kyle Miller was his top target, hauling in 6 receptions for 111 yards.
Austin Bressler led LBCC on defense with 7 tackles while Thaddeus Dixon and Alfred (Trey) Edwards both grabbed interceptions.
Long Beach returns to action next Saturday (Oct. 22) when the Vikings travel to East Los Angeles College for a 6 p.m. National Northern League game.