OCC destination: playoffs

While much of the Orange Coast College campus remains under construction, Pirates football players traded their hard hats for their more familiar helmets as they moved into their new locker room facility to prepare for the upcoming season.

Pirates Coach Mike Taylor, entering his eighth season, hopes they will also make themselves at home on Nov. 17, when the program will play host to a bowl game organized with the help of sponsorship dollars.

OCC has been to bowl games the last two seasons, the program’s first back-to-back postseason appearances since 1992-93.

“We’re proud to have gone to a bowl game two years in a row,” Taylor said. “But we’d like to up the ante this year.”

Taylor said he would consider the ante upped if the bowl game were part of the Southern California playoff system, in which the Pirates have yet to compete.

A playoff berth appeared attainable last season, when the Pirates opened 5-0. But they lost four of their last six games, including three Mission Conference National Division contests, and a 29-20 setback to Mt. San Antonio in the U.S. Bank Beach Bowl at Santa Monica College.

The second-half woes were also apparent within games, as the Pirates outscored foes, 166-79, before halftime, but were outpointed, 115-97, after intermission.

A roster that exceeds 100 players may help supply more fresh legs this season, though nearly three-fourths of the Pirates’ players are freshmen.

Further, the sophomores include only four returning full-time starters on defense and three on offense.

Taylor believes the defense, the strength of the program during the last two bowl campaigns, will, once again, be able to keep his team in games.

Sophomore outside linebacker Shaun Mohler, a Corona del Mar High product who verbally committed to Nebraska during the summer, returns with third-team J.C. Grid-Wire All-American credentials. Mohler, whose team-leading 100 tackles last season included 15 1/2 for losses and five sacks, was also a first-team All-Mission Conference National Division honoree.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Mohler will line up alongside sophomore returning middle linebacker Matt Harris (6-2, 225), whose 56 tackles were fourth-best on last year’s unit.

The secondary includes two second-team all-division returners in free safety Benjamin Soza and cornerback Chris Holmesly. Soza, a former Newport Harbor High standout, was second on the team with 69 tackles as a freshman, when he shared the team lead with four interceptions.

Holmesly also had four picks as he and Soza accounted for half of the 16 OCC interceptions that helped the team produce a plus-11 turnover ratio.

When the defense does secure the ball, the Orange Coast offense may have more firepower with which to attack the end zone than it has had in recent years.

Sean Hakes, a former all-state quarterback from Texas, has transferred from Akron after a redshirt season and could, once again, become a hot topic on recruiting websites. At 6-3, 225, Hakes has a power arm and a penchant for scrambling (he gained more than 1,000 yards as a senior in high school). But with just more than a week of practice time, his grasp of the system is anything but secure.

Freshman Taylor Hughes, the Newport-Mesa Offensive Player of the Year last season at Corona del Mar High, and returning sophomore Chris Debowski are also trying to maintain a grasp on the starting quarterback job, though some consider Hakes’ ascension inevitable.

Hughes, who threw for 2,204 yards and 22 touchdowns at CdM after transferring from Mater Dei, was impressive in the Pirates’ preseason scrimmage Friday against visiting West Los Angeles. He completed nine of 12 for 103 yards and one touchdown without an interception in the scrimmage, while Hakes was a modest two for four for 47 yards and no TDs.

Dobowski played in five games behind sophomore Kekoa Crowell (1,336 passing yards and 14 TDs) and completed 15 of 28 for 249 yards and two TDs. The 6-0, 200-pounder, who started and played the entire bowl game, was 11 of 19 for 212 yards and two TDs against Mt. SAC. He missed the start of fall practice with a broken middle finger on his right (throwing) hand and threw just one pass in the scrimmage (an incompletion).

Taylor said whoever stands in the pocket will have a deep and talented corps of receivers to choose from. That receiving corps includes sophomore Nathan Bennett, who earned all-conference laurels last season as a kick returner. Barnett averaged 32.8 yards per return during the regular season last fall and had two kickoff returns for TDs.

Barnett. who started early for the Pirates on offense, also caught 14 passes for 179 yards and two TDs and rushed seven times for 25 more yards.

The running game featured Andrew Banks (6-1, 200) last season and he returns after producing 834 yards and eight touchdowns on 229 carries in 11 games.

But Banks will face a challenge from bounce-backs Kevin Ah-Hi, a redshirt freshman who spent last season at Montana State, and freshman Marquise Lawrence, who redshirted at UC Davis last season.

Ah-Hi (6-0, 210), who played prep football in Idaho, opened eyes in the scrimmage by carrying 10 times for 75 yards and one touchdown and adding 15 yards on his only reception.

Banks carried three times for 11 yards in the scrimmage.

The offensive line is an area that Taylor believes will benefit most from increased numbers. There were times the last two seasons when backups were scarce, forcing the bid bodies in the trenches to push themselves beyond fatigue, often to the detriment of production.

This season, Taylor said nearly two-dozen players will provide offensive line coach Doug Smith, a former standout with the Los Angeles Rams, plenty of substitution options.

Sophomores Bryce Carich (6-2, 300) and Sam Alexander (6-2, 295) started every game for the Pirates up front last season.

Carich, a Costa Mesa High product, is the starter at left guard, while Alexander is set to open at left tackle.

The Pirates were picked to finish third in the six-team American Division, behind nationally top-ranked El Camino and Palomar. Fullerton, Long Beach and Golden West round out the division.