Warriors Set Scoring Record in Opening Night Romp over L.A. Southwest

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – El Camino College had never scored more than 70 points in its entire history as a football program. On Saturday night against L.A. Southwest, the Warriors made sure that was no longer true.

The Warriors scored 41 points in the first half and set a new school record with 74 points as they trounced the Cougars, 74-8, in the 2017 season opener.

Quarterback Jerman Gotoy led the offense as he went 6-for-9 for 155 yards and two touchdowns through the air while also rushing it four times for 79 yards, including a 27 yard touchdown scamper in the second quarter. Trevon Clark led all receivers with three catches for 99 yards and two touchdowns.

The Warriors dominated the Cougars, doubling up on first downs with 29 against the home team's 13. The Warriors also accumulated 594 yards of total offense and flirted with another record on defense, holding the Cougars to negative yardage on the ground. The Cougars were credited with -32 yards rushing, the second fewest rushing yards ever allowed by an ECC squad. The 2004 Warriors held Ventura to -57 yards, which currently stands as the ECC record. The -32 yards was the fewest yards allowed on the ground since 2007 when they held Grossmont to -24 yards rushing.

The game started off slow on both sides as each team turned the ball over multiple times. The Warriors turned it over on downs twice in the first quarter and also threw an interception and lost a fumble in the opening period. But ECC managed to take the lead 7:24 into the game as starting quarterback Aaron Thomas found Chris Brown for an 18-yard touchdown, putting ECC up 7-0.

The Warriors led 14-0 after one quarter and then exploded in the second as they outscored the Cougars 27-2 in the period. Gotoy opened the floodgates with a 65-yard bomb to Clark for the receiver's first score of the game just 48 seconds into the quarter.

After an interception by Nathaniel Vaughn, one of his two on the night, Gotoy scampered for a 27-yard touchdown, bouncing off numerous would-be tacklers and taking it up the near sideline for the score.

On their very next drive, the Warriors capped off a six-play, 87-yard scoring drive that took 2:25 with a touchdown pass from Cole Klayman to Damien Bernard and the rout was on.

The only blemish for the Warriors in the second came on the extra-point attempt after their third touchdown as Jerromy Choice blocked Kevin Boermeester's kick and Bernard Robins returned it 98 yards the other way for the extra-point conversion to make it 34-2 ECC.

Along with Vaughn's two picks, De'Edward Cormier also had two interceptions for the Warriors defense and Mike Mason led the defense with six tackles (3 solo). As a whole, the Warriors defense also tallied nine tackles for a loss of 67 yards.

ECC will return to action next Saturday for their home opener against Moorpark at 1 p.m. The Warriors will honor the 1987 National Championship team at the game with a halftime ceremony.