Philip George, Spring 2009 Assistant Sports Editor
A crowd of 600 packed Shepard Stadium Saturday night as the lights shone bright on the field for the first time this season, but not bright enough as the Brahmas dropped their home opener, 28-17, to the Moorpark College Raiders.
The crushing blow, however, did not involve the scoreboard at all. With less than a minute to play in the fourth quarter, Pierce quarterback Justin Collins broke loose for a scramble and was knocked to the ground, where he would remain for nearly half an hour, lying conscious but in immense pain with an apparent hip injury until transported off the field by ambulance. Team officials decline further comment on the injury.
“Everybody has got to play well. We’ve got to play sound, we’ve got to be disciplined and we’ve got to grow up,” said Martinez prior to the start of the game, but the Brahmas’ play out of the gate was anything but sound.
On merely the third play of the game, Collins dropped back to pass and was hit, losing the football, which was recovered by Moorpark at the Pierce 25-yard line.
Linebacker Michael Fruchtman immediately bailed out Collins on the Raiders’ first offensive play of the game, recovering a fumble of his own. It went for naught, however, as Collins lost his second fumble of the game after driving 54 yards to the Moorpark 37-yard line. The ensuing Raiders’ possession resulted in a 13-yard touchdown run by Dan Mosier.
Pierce battled back on their next drive, running nine plays for 74 yards capped off by a 23-yard touchdown pass from Collins to wide-receiver Kenny Davis, knotting the game at 7-7. A Bradley Borreson field goal in the second quarter gave the Brahmas their first lead, 10-7.
It was then that the Brahmas began to become unglued. With Pierce backed up deep into their own territory on fourth down, James Papazian’s punt attempt was blocked and recovered nine yards from the end zone. Mosier ran it in for the score on the first play of the drive to give Moorpark a 14-10 lead at the half.
Pierce had an opportunity to get within one point of the Raiders midway through the third quarter, but Borreson missed a 29-yard field goal, setting up an 81-yard touchdown drive by Moorpark aided by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and an encroachment penalty, both against the Brahmas on consecutive third downs.
“Little things, little mistakes,” explained Martinez, “Missed field goal; that was a momentum changer. 15-yard penalty that they gave us; that was a momentum changer. Football is a game of momentum and we gave the momentum to them.”
The Brahmas would surrender yet another touchdown in the fourth quarter to Moorpark after Collins lost his third fumble of the contest, leading to a 20-yard reception by Simeon McRae in the end zone to extend the Raider lead to 27-10.
Pierce was unable to convert on their next drive, but after two unsportsmanlike conduct calls against the Raiders’ Matt Gentle set up a third down and 48, the Brahmas were given one more chance at a comeback.
Collins drove the offense to the five-yard line of Moorpark just before his injury, and after the lengthy delay, Davis, a second string quarterback at Birmingham High School, moved from receiver to quarterback and threw his first collegiate pass for a touchdown to Alonzo Frederick to cut the lead to 28-17.
“My team needed me and I got in there,” said Davis, “You know I had a little bubble guts, but I got the ball, just threw it and prayed.”
The Brahmas failed to recover an onside kick, and Moorpark took a knee to end the game.
Sophomore full safety and Co-captain Craig Alexander offered his assessment of the Brahmas’ performance.
“We did okay,” said Alexander, “We just made some mental mistakes. We were missing linemen on defense, couple fumbles, those are mental mistakes. That’s it.”
Kenny Davis even ventured to draw some positives from the game.
“We stuck together. We just kept battling,” he said, “That’s all we can ask for from our teammates. Keep going, keep going, get your head up and everything will be alright. Look out for us this year. It’s only one game.”
In the week following the game, the Brahmas received bad news as they learned that Collins had broken his femur and would be lost for the remainder of the season.
Collins was admitted Saturday night to the Tarzana Medical Center where he underwent surgery and was released later in the week.
“It was a clean break so he doesn’t need a cast,” said Pierce head coach Efrain Martinez, “They put a steel rod in his leg, so he should be up and walking in a couple of weeks.”
Martinez announced that to replace Collins, he would use previously grey-shirted freshman Taylor Budd at quarterback for the rest of 2008.
Budd was grey-shirted prior to the season opener so he could take a partial schedule of classes at Pierce without burning a year of eligibility, but the injury to Collins forced the Brahmas to activate him earlier than they had hoped to.
“We just wanted to save Taylor Budd’s year so he could catch up academically, but he’s going to have to catch up quickly,” said Martinez.
Budd was unable to shake off the rust in his first game as a Brahma, rushing for a touchdown, but also throwing three interceptions in a 59-20 loss to Fullerton College on Saturday.
“He struggled,” said Martinez, “It was typical. It was what I expected in his first game. It was his first college football game.”
On a high note for Pierce, sophomore running back Eddie Gomez showed some explosiveness, busting loose for an 80-yard touchdown.
Next up, the Brahmas travel to Righetti High School to take on the Allan Hancock Bulldogs Saturday at 6 p.m.
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