FOOTBALL GETS PAST L.A. SOUTHWEST, 24-12

SANTA MARIA-- It may not have been a thing of beauty, but the AHC football team won its second straight, 24-12 over visiting Los Angeles Southwest College on Saturday at Righetti High's Warior Field.
Coming off a mid-season bye, the Bulldogs (4-2, 2-1) may have played a sloppy game, but scored first and had the contest in control throughout. However, several penalties, some missed tackles and blocking assignments and two lost fumbles kept the out-classed Cougars (1-5) close.
The game was Hancock's final WSC "crossover" match against a Southern Division foe, with no bearing on the WSC North standings. AHC's four remaining contests will count: at L.A. Pierce next Saturday, at home against L.A. Valley on Nov. 21 and Moorpark on Nov. 8 and at Santa Barbara Nov. 15.
Hancock finally got the scoring started at the 10:15 mark of the second quarter, when quarterback Chad Nicholson connected with wide receiver Brad Sorenson, streaking toward the post well behind the entire L.A. Southwest defense. The play covered 49 yards. The Cougars took advantage of a Bulldog fumble and narrowed the gap to 7-3 on a 27-yard Dennys Deleon field goal at the 4:12 mark.
Hancock responded with its best drive of the half, culminated by Paul Jordan's 14-yard touchdown run with 1:48 to play in the first half. Southwest rallied to drive the ball inside the five but ran out of time at the Hancock one, leaving the Bulldogs with a 14-3 halftime margin.
Sophomore cornerback Eddie Scipio put the game out of reach at the 10:46 mark of the third quarter, when he intercepted a Brian Johnson pass and raced 65 yards for a touchdown. Later in the period he returned a punt 68 yards for an apparent score that thrilled the home crowd but was called back for a penalty. Scipio had another 17-yard punt return and two kickoff runbacks totalling 99 yards.
Freshman placekicker Brian Schneider ran the Bulldog lead to 24-3 with a 26-yard field goal late in the third period. Southwest pulled to within 24-10 on a six-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Kevin Corbin midway through the fourth quarter. The Cougars closed out the scoring when Hancock took a safety on a bad punt snap with 3:50 remaining.
For the game, the Bulldogs rushed 45 times for a total of 273 yards and finished with 356 yards of total offense. AHC had just 18 first downs to Southwest's 24 and wound up with just 27:22 time of possession to the Cougars' 32:38. Sophomore tailback Lucious Sloan rushed for a team-high 117 yards on 13 carries, Jordan and Michael Santos each added 48 on 10. Nicholson completed 5-of-11 passes for 83 yards, including the long bomb to Sorenson.
Defensively, Trevor Shamblee led AHC with nine tackles, including seven solo stops, while David Pitts had eight with six unassisted. Kevin Tapp recorded his second interception of the season.
Late injuries to Nicholson, defensive back Tyler Swanson and offensive lineman Greg Shibata were not serious, but could be a factor in AHC's next outing at L.A. Pierce.