This past Saturday the Moorpark Raiders squared off in their second conference game of the season against College of the Canyons, a game which ended in a 26-10 victory for the visiting Cougars.

Having their first conference win under their belts, Moorpark looked to continue their push for playoffs with back-to-back wins, but it was visiting quarterback Matt Moore who really dominated the day and left the Raiders searching for answers.

On the first possession of the game, the Cougars set what would be the tone of this game with a 12-play, 51-yard touchdown drive that knocked nearly seven minutes off of the clock.

The defense for Moorpark has performed relatively well when limiting the big plays, but Saturday was a different story. The Cougars connected on passes of 15 yards or more 10 times during this game, which is a recipe that will keep the defense on the field and put points on the board for the opposition.

Raider defensive back Michael Hightower spoke about what caused the breakdowns in coverage.

“It was really about us getting caught off guard,” said Hightower. “Our preparation just needs to be there and if our line isn’t getting there it’s on us to lock up on our assignment.”

Isaiah Johnson, Raiders running back, who was named conference offensive player of the week for the second time, had a relatively quiet day after scoring the lone touchdown for the Raiders late in the third quarter.

Johnson walked away with 53 yards on 15 carries and one touchdown.

That touchdown late in the third quarter brought the Raiders within three and the score sat at 13-10 until the next Cougar drive, when Matt Moore connected with receiver Marquise Brown for a 19-yard touchdown. This pushed the lead to two scores and at the rate the offense was going for Moorpark, this seemed like a very tall task.

Hoping to have one more spark of late game magic, Raider quarterback Kado Brown took over with 11:57 left in the fourth quarter. After a holding penalty, Kado teamed up with running back Isaiah Johnson to drive the ball into Cougar territory, combining for 52-yards on the ground between them. After an incredible would-be touchdown run by Brown, it was called back due to an awful call for holding on Emmanuel Osuchukwu and Brown struggled to make it to the sideline after injuring his ankle on the play.

Backup quarterback for the Raiders Trenton Thornton was called into action hoping to finish off a huge momentum swinging drive. All was for not, when on the third play of his insertion, Thornton threw into coverage in the end zone where the ball was picked off by COC ending the comeback effort.

The Cougars answered right back with a 68-yard touchdown pass to put the game away by a score of 26-10.

Kado Brown did not return to the game, and his status for the game against Ventura is questionable, but he is sure to give it a go if healthy.

Isaiah Johnson commented on what the game plan was coming into this game.

“Coming into this week we wanted to air out the ball and loosen up the defense to open up the box for us, but it didn’t work out like that,” said Johnson. “We tried to stay with the system and keep running the ball, just trust it. We need to get back into what we do naturally.”

The Raiders take to the field once again this Saturday in an away game against Ventura College at 6 p.m.