The El Camino College football team kicked off the 2016 season Saturday in the inaugural game at the new Murdock Stadium. The Warriors trailed 14-7 at halftime, on the first series of the third quarter, freshman quarterback David Sills threw a screen pass to freshman wide receiver Mason Mulvihill who weaved his way through the L.A. Southwest defense for a 15-yard touchdown.
The Warriors’ offense reeled off 34 second half points to give El Camino a 41-21 win over L.A. Southwest College. First year coach Gifford Lindheim’s up tempo no-huddle offense got into a rhythm in the second half after a slow start, where the offense was forced to punt on its first four possessions.
“I’m proud of our guys for being resilient,” Lindheim said. “We wanted to make the alumni proud and represent the college and tradition of El Camino the best way possible.”
Sills, a bounce back from West Virginia where he was moved from quarterback to wide receiver, hit freshman running back Nicholas Hutson out of the back field for a 14-yard touchdown in the second quarter. It was Sills’ first game under center in almost two years.
“We started off very slow but we came together in the second half and did what we needed to do,” Sills said, who completed nine passes for 161 yards and four touchdowns. “This is something to build off of, we can’t start the next game like we did today.”
The running game got a spark in the third quarter when freshman running back Johnnell Jackson took the handoff and broke several tackles on his way to a 49-yard touchdown run. Jackson finished with 105 yards on nine carries and a touchdown.
“I had to redeem myself after my fumble,” Jackson said. “I wanted to come out here and dominate for my team. The coaches told us to believe in ourselves and we did that.”
El Camino put the game away when Sills threw touchdown passes of 40 and 32 yards to sophomore tight end Erik Henneman in the third quarter. Henneman, who followed coach Lindheim from Santa Monica College, finished with three catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns.
“We had overcome some first game jitters but we got on track,” Henneman said.” After that second touchdown, I wanted another one.”
The Warriors piled up 509 yards of total offense for the game after overcoming a first half where their first pass completion didn’t come until the second quarter. Freshman quarterback Conner Miller also saw time under center but had his first pass intercepted off a deflection and returned for a touchdown by the Cougars.
Lindheim said they wanted to utilize both quarterbacks and see where the team was offensively. He feels confident both can get the job done.
“We will go look at the film and see where we are at,” Lindheim said. “We want to see what gives us our best chance to win.”
Former El Camino coach John Featherstone, who retired at the end of last season, was back to lead his old team out of the tunnel and onto the field with the high energy he continues to have. Featherstone was also on hand for the coin toss.
“The door is always open for him to come and get these guys going,” Lindheim said. “It felt comforting to have him on our sidelines and in our locker room. The guys loved seeing him.”
