GCC Football beat L.A. Pierce 43-7 in home opener Sept. 17 to improve to 2-1

GCC Football beat L.A. Pierce 43-7 in home opener Sept. 17 to improve to 2-1

GCC Football beat L.A. Pierce 43-7 in home opener Sept. 17 to improve to 2-1

pc:  Glenn Cooper

The bells and whistles were all in place for the 2022 home opener for the Glendale College Football Team Saturday Sept. 17 . New Superintendent/President Dr. Ryan Cornner flipped the coin before the start of the game, the Athletic Pep Band was playing and the new concession stand was selling so much food that they were sold out at halftime.

But all of that activity did not take away from the action on the field as the Vaqueros extended a 17-7 halftime advantage over visiting Los Angeles Pierce College to improve to 2-1 with a decisive 43-7 victory before an appreciative crowd at Sartoris Field, many of whom were seeing the exterior of the new athletic facility for the first time.

While the offense was solid enough with sophomore quarterback Nick Garcia passing for 169 yards and two scores on 14 completions in 25 attempts and running back Georgio Spiropoulos crashing and dashing for 80 yards and two touchdowns on just 12 attempts, it was the defensive effort of the Vaqs that shined brightly on this night.

They allowed just 13 first downs and 191 yards of total offense compared to 377 for Glendale and recorded seven sacks, recovered two fumbles and intercepted two passes, one by Spencer Lauer who has three on the season. Another significant contribution was made by kicker Blake Howard, who had one punt for 40 yards but averaged 60.3 yards for his seven kickoffs for 423 yards and helped keep Pierce in poor field position all night.

GCC plays the second of three consecutive home games Saturday Sept. 24 when it hosts College of the Desert at 7 pm.