Warriors Pull Away Late to Secure Beach Bowl Win

TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College held East Los Angeles scoreless in the last minutes of the third quarter and the entire fourth quarter to secure a 39-24 victory in the 2021 Beach Bowl on Saturday night in Featherstone Field at Murdock Stadium.

The Warriors (7-4) held the Huskies (5-6) scoreless for the final 20:25 of regulation and, in turn, scored 13 unanswered points to turn a two-point lead into a comfortable win and the program's third bowl victory in the last four seasons.

Dion Moore was named the game's most valuable player after finding the end zone four times on the night. He led the Warriors with seven receptions and tallied 71 yards with three touchdowns. He also had three rushes for 24 yards, half of those coming on his 12-yard touchdown scamper in the first quarter.

Mehki Jordan was named the offensive player of the game after the quarterback had the best game of his career, going 21-for-30 for 274 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 51 yards on 12 carries in the victory.

For the Huskies, Jeremiah Jackson-Trotter earned defensive player of the game honors as he led all players with 15 tackles including eight solo efforts. He also had one tackle for a loss, one pass breakup and he blocked two extra points.

The game was close in the first half as the teams traded the lead five times in the opening 19:30 of game time. But it was Brandyn Jordan's 48-yard touchdown run that proved to be the last time the lead would switch as it gave ECC a 20-17 lead in the second quarter.

Noah Guastella would drill a 37-yard field goal to end the first half and then hit a 25-yard field goal for the first points of the second half to put ECC up 26-17 and that would prove to be the difference.

Cobe Stribling hauled in a 63-yard touchdown pass along the near sideline with 5:25 left in the third to pull the Huskies within two points, but the Warriors defense held the Huskies to negative yardage on their final four drives of the game to secure the victory.

Along with the defense holding ELAC to -11 yards in the last 15:35 of the game, the Warriors offense got two more receiving touchdowns from Moore to put the game away.

The Warriors also had a number of performances that broke into the ECC All-Time record book. With 528 total yards against ELAC, the 2021 Warriors jumped to No. 6 all-time in total offense with 4,756 yards, planting themselves between the 2008 squad that gained 4,991 yards and the 2009 team that totaled 4,660 yards of offense.

On the individual side, Stephen Bradford Jr. finished the year with 973 rushing yards, placing him at No. 9 in the record book for most rushing yards in a single season. He surpassed Aaron Craver (945) and Delvon Flowers (953) with Saturday's performance.

Sophomore kicker Noah Guastella capped off his Warriors career by breaking into the record book as well. He finished Saturday night with two field goals and three extra points, giving him 83 points on the year, which tied Stephen Locke (2009) for the third most points by a kicker in a single season in ECC history. Coupled with the five extra points he kicked as a freshman in 2019, Guastella is now tied for eighth all-time in career kick scoring with 88 points along with Locke (2008-09) and Branden Jones (2004-05).

Freshman Lando Brown failed to record a sack Saturday but finished with nine on the year, which is tied for the ninth most in a single season in ECC history.

2021 BEACH BOWL SUPERLATIVES

GAME MVP: Dion Moore, El Camino College
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Mehki Jordan, El Camino College
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jeremiah Jackson-Trotter, East Los Angeles