STORY BY MATT SIMON
The 2019 season has been deemed the redemption tour for the Long Beach City College football team.
Heading into Saturday night’s contest the Vikings (4-2, 1-0) were 0-2 on their journey to make up for a disappointing 2018 campaign.
Behind the arm of quarterback Derrach West and a staunch defense, LBCC defeated East Los Angeles 33-9 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
“I’m really proud of how our guys handled adversity tonight,” LBCC coach Brett Peabody said. “We faced a first and forty early on and ended up getting a first down.”
It was that kind of night for LBCC, but with a solid all around performance, the Vikings dominated the game from the opening snap.
West got the offense going early on with his legs accounting for two rushing touchdowns giving LBCC a 13-0 lead in the second quarter.
Along with keeping plays alive with his feet, West also spread the ball around making big plays with Zack Leets, Zion Bowens and Johnathan Watson. Leets was a mismatch for the ELAC defense making big plays all over the field, including a 45-yard touchdown in the second half. West had 310 yards passing, 125 of which went to Leets.
“We went into this week seeing all the mismatches all over the field,” West said. “We felt like anywhere on the field, we had the guys that could help us win.”
On the ground, Talaun Patton and Saeed Galloway each scored rushing touchdowns.
LBCC will be back in action next week when they travel to Bakersfield.
