On Saturday, the Raider football team took on the College of the Canyons Cougars in their final away game of the season. The Raiders were able to come away with their third consecutive win in a defensive battle, 17-10.
Athletic director Howard Davis has been nothing but proud of the team for the way they have played in the last few weeks.
“Everyone around our team knew we were better than we were playing early this season,” said Davis. “Instead of allowing adversity to fracture the team, the student athletes grew closer and continued to work everyday.”
The scoring started with 22 seconds left in the first quarter. Raider kicker Brendon Hodgson kicked a 19 yard field goal to cap off a 12 play drive for his team. Moorpark led 3-0.
In the second quarter, Raider running back Isaiah Johnson ran the ball in from eight yards out giving his team a 10-0 lead, which would be the final score before the half.
The Cougars got on the board on their opening drive of the second half when quarterback Matthew Moore threw a touchdown to his receiver Conner Byrnes. The score put C.O.C. back in the game, but still down by three points.
In the fourth quarter, Raider quarterback Kado Brown was able to run the ball into the endzone from eight yards out giving Moorpark a 10 point lead, again.
C.O.C. kicker Alec Chadwick booted a 36 yard field goal with 4:38 left in the game to shrink their deficit to only a touchdown.
Neither team was able to do anything else and the Raiders held on for a 17-10 victory.
Davis knows how hard it is to win in this conference because of how stacked the other teams are, but he is extremely happy with how the Raiders have been winning as of late.
“Winning three games in a row in this incredibly competitive conference is impressive under any circumstances,” said Davis. “But after starting 1-5, it is unprecedented.”
Moorpark continued their ground game dominance as the team out rushed the Cougars 218 yards to 28 yards. The Raider offense as a whole had a total of 353 yards to go with their two rushing touchdowns. Moorpark’s defense also continued its dominance as they only gave up one passing touchdown on the day.
Brown continued his impressive quarterback play on the ground as he rushed the ball 24 times for a total of 131 yards and a touchdown. Brown also had a much better day passing the ball in comparison to last week’s game. He went 12 of 20 for 135 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.
Davis believes that Brown’s performance is a testament to what the entire Raider football team has been doing as of late.
“Kado Brown is arguably the best community college football player in Southern California right now,” said Davis. “His performance against the premier teams makes it easy to say such a thing.”
Moorpark’s final game of the regular season will be this Saturday at 6 p.m. against Allan Hancock College. If the Raiders come away with a victory, they will be heading to a bowl game. Which bowl game they would be playing in will be determined in the week following.
