Hitting Ah-Hi note

COSTA MESA — Orange Coast College redshirt freshman tailback Kevin Ah-Hi said it was more a matter of settling down Saturday against visiting Santa Monica.

But with 157 of his 165 game-high rushing yards coming after halftime, including a pair of scores that cinched the Pirates’ 28-16 nonconference football win, it looked like the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Montana State transfer was settling into to OCC’s featured backfield role.

“I don’t know what happened the first half, but the second half, I just felt like I had to do something,” said Ah-Hi, who had eight yards on five carries before intermission. “It’s my first year here and I’ve just got to get rid of those nerves.”

Ah-Hi struck a nerve in the Santa Monica defense, beginning with the hosts’ first offensive series of the second half.

With the Pirates holding onto their 14-10 halftime lead, earned with a seven-yard Sean Hakes to Cameron Hall touchdown pass with 18 seconds left in the second quarter, Ah-Hi began ripping off rushing yards.

He opened the drive with an 18-yard burst and finished it with a 15-yard sweep into the end zone to up the lead to 20-10. Shea Curren added the third of his four conversion kicks and OCC had all it would need to even its record at 1-1.

Ah-Hi produced 47 yards on the 54-yard march.

Then, just more than four minutes after Santa Monica (0-2) closed to within 21-16 with 11:07 left in the game, Ah-Hi broke three tackles en route to a 37-yard touchdown run that capped the scoring.

“Kevin came in in the second half and gave us a spark,” OCC Coach Mike Taylor said. “He just runs differently than [starter and returning sophomore] Andrew Banks. Andrew runs hard [73 yards on 13 carries, including a three-yard TD to cap a game-opening 11-play, 67-yard drive], but he gets a little sloppy with the ball [one fumble that cost the Pirates possession at the Corsairs’ 21-yard line].

“Kevin had that nice 30-something touchdown run and I don’t know if Andrew has had a 30-yard touchdown run in his career.”

Banks, who has 959 rushing yards at OCC, has just four runs of more than eight yards this season (in 33 attempts). His career long is 32 yards last season.

OCC rushed for 265 yards on 56 attempts Saturday, making 15 of their 17 first downs on the ground.

“It was a challenge week for our offensive line,” said Taylor, who watched his team produce 98 rushing yards on 46 tries in the 27-10 opening loss at Citrus. “[This week] was better.”

Tackles Sam Alexander, Jordan Taromina and Brian Chambless, guards Bryce Carich, Finau Fiaseu, Justin Krueger and Jacob Hayes, center Randy Seton and tight ends Bill Brown and Cordell Simmons appeared to wear down Santa Monica’s defense.

Hakes, who started and played the better part of three quarters, also helped the ground game. He rushed for 25 yards on 10 carries, none bigger than a seven-yard scramble on third-and-eight, that set up his own two-yard sneak on fourth down that moved the chains and set the stage for Ah-Hi’s clinching TD.

Hakes, a redshirt freshman transfer from Akron, completed just four of 14 pass attempts for 57 yards.

Hall, a 6-3 freshman, made Hakes look good by snatching the ball, one-handed, just over a defender’s shoulder pad near the back of the end zone for the aforementioned touchdown.

Taylor Hughes, a freshman out of Corona del Mar High who started the opener, was two for six passing for 42 yards, with one interception.

OCC limited the Corsairs to 15 rushing yards on 19 attempts and no rushing first downs.

Shad Baichtal and Josh Jordan had interceptions for OCC, which had sacks from London Sapolu and Mike Marowitz, and additional tackles for losses by Shaun Mohler, Matt Harris, Dean DeLeon and Manny Lara.

FIRST QUARTER

OCC – Banks 3 run (Curran kick), 10:24.

SM – Espinosa 23 FG, 7:29.

SECOND QUARTER

SM – Martin 14 pass from Nasouf (Espinosa kick), 4:42.

OCC – Hall 7 pass from Hakes (Curran kick), 0:18.

THIRD QUARTER

OCC – Ah-Hi 15 run (Curran kick), 9:53.

FOURTH QUARTER

SM – Bartholomew 20 pass from Nasouf (pass failed), 11:07.

OCC – Ah-Hi 37 run (Curran kick), 7:05.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

SM – Hayes, 4-12; Bartholomew, 7-8; Notcn, 3-5; Williams, 1-minus-2; Nasouf, 3-minus-7; Team, 1-minus-1.

OCC – Ah-Hi, 28-165, 2 TDs; Banks, 13-73, 1 TD; Hakes, 10-25; Barnett, 3-12; Ahlo, 1-5; Hughes, 1-minus-15.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

SM – Nasouf, 17-34-1, 154, 2 TDs; Notcn, 1-3-1, 59.

OCC – Hakes, 4-14-0, 57, 1 TD; Hughes, 2-6-1, 42.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

SM – Martin, 6-76, 1 TD; Emery 4-59; Bartholomew, 4-39, 1 TD; Mack, 3-29; Sweeney, 1-15.

OCC – Barnett, 2-30; Taylor, 1-34; Banks, 1-20; Simmons, 1-8; Hall, 1-7, 1 TD.