Pierce College showed no rust after a bye week traveling to L.A. Southwest College scoring 40 unanswered points through nearly three quarters and defeating the Cougars 47-12 in a one-sided victory to move to 3-0 to start the season.
Quarterback Nick Arbuckle had a solid game throwing 10-19 for 172 passing yds and 2 TD’s, but it was the running game that owned the night lead by Calvin Howard, who in his first game rushed for 162 yds on just 11 carries. The Brahmas altogether as a team ran for 343 yds on the ground.
“This was a statement game for me,” Howard said, who hadn’t played since 2012. “Playing football was a feeling that I hadn’t felt in awhile and the offensive line did their job.”
Pierce’s offensive line played well giving up only one sack during the game.
The Brahmas got off to a slow start in the first quarter on the first drive coming up with a 40-yd field goal by sophomore kicker Daniel Schlorf. Then the floodgates opened when freshman running back DeShawn Jones exploded out of the backfield for 55 yds and scoring the game’s first touchdown with 1:45 remaining in the first quarter to take a 10-0 lead.
“I kept saying all week I was going to score,” Jones said. “I was dreaming about it and I finally got my chance. I just followed my lineman and took it to the house.”
From there the Brahmas rolled over the Cougars scoring 40 consecutive points not allowing a touchdown until Southwest running back Andrew Duvea scored on a 4 yard run with 4:23 remaining in the third quarter to make the score 40-6.
Arbuckle talked about the physicality of the run game and its effectiveness against L.A. Southwest.
“This was the kind of game that I love,” Arbuckle said. “Power football is how the game is should be played. If I don’t have to do anything but hand the ball off in order to win the game then that’s the kind of game I prefer. I don’t care if I ever have to throw a TD pass or not, as long as we win. Look at the way Alabama plays, that’s what wins championships, not the spread passing game. If my only job is to get the ball from the Center to the running back then I know we are dominating our opponent.”
Pierce, now 3-0, plays West L.A. College at home next Saturday, Oct. 5.