In a game that was riddled by penalty calls and turnovers, the Moorpark College Football Team was crushed in its cross county rival game against Ventura College, ending in an agonizing 41-9 loss on Sept. 29 at Griffin Stadium.
The Raiders encountered 11 penalty calls, for a total loss of 141 yards, along with seven interceptions.
Justin Roberson, linebacker for the Raiders, believed that the game could have been more efficient for the Raiders if they knew the plays.
“People need to know their assignments on offense and defense,” said Robertson. That would help out a lot. There was a lot of confusion where people were thinking too much and not just reacting.”
The Raiders had a hard time with their rushing attack by only getting 19 yards in the entire game but they did pass more than the Pirates, 262 to 222 yards.
Raiders first scored with a safety at the 13:26 mark in the second quarter. The Raiders were held scoreless until the fourth quarter when wide receiver Cheldon West, caught a 24-yard pass from quarterback, Max Leffler for the touchdown with 8:52. West led the team with 125 yards including one touchdown. Quarterback Ben Conlin led the team with 206 passing yards and five interceptions.
Head coach Will Thurston said that his team improved their play against Ventura College throughout the night.
“They balanced out as the game progressed,” said Thurston.
Thurston said that the officials were not in their favor during the game.
“There was a little bit of over officiating,” said Thurston.
Athletic Director Howard Davis said that people shouldn’t worry about how the football team played against Ventura College.
“This is a really good team,” said Davis of the Ventura team. “They are like Number 5 in the country, so it has a lot to do with that. I don’t think we will play a team as good as them.”
The Moorpark College Football team is now 1-4 and will play at Pierce College Sat. Oct. 6, at 7 p.m.
Ventura College stops the ball just shy of the goaline preventing Moorpark From Scoring. Photo by Brittany Tackett
