Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – CR quarterback Max Hough threw for five touchdowns in Saturday’s win.

The Corsairs are maturing on the football field week by week and they continue to be one of the stories of the season.

On Saturday afternoon, a very young College of the Redwoods team stretched its winning streak to six straight with a comfortable 47-28 win over De Anza at the Redwood Bowl and took over sole possession of top spot in the American-Pacific 7 Conference standings.

What’s remarkable about this team’s 6-2 record — 4-0 in conference — is that they have achieved it with a roster made up almost entirely of freshmen, and, as head coach Jason White pointed out after Saturday’s win, we’re seeing them mature as the season has progressed.

This is a team that started out losing close games, before quickly evolving into one that won close games, and now has become a team that is winning the games it is supposed to win by big margins.

Key to that development has been the play of quarterback Max Hough and a deep group of receivers that are playing better every week.

Hough completed 19 of 34 passes for 343 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions against De Anza, connecting with four different receivers on those scoring passes.

He also scored on a QB sneak.

“He just had a huge game,” White said of the former Fortuna Husky. “He’s seeing the field really well right now.”

He’s also building a lot of chemistry with a lot of different receivers.

“Our receiving corps, I don’t talk about them enough,” the head coach said. “We had a lot of guys make plays today.”

Hough completed two TD passes to Del Norte’s Kaleb Price, who is enjoying an outstanding season at tight end and has been one of the Corsairs’ most consistent players.

Jayden Burns also continues to impress and had six catches for 73 yards and a TD, while Donte Hurt had three catches for 64 yards and a TD and Sean LaChapelle had two catches for 54 yards, including a 30-yard scoring reception on a fourth-down play late in the first quarter.

Damario Watson also had four receptions for 74 yards

Running back Emmanuel Igbonagwam also continues to play a pivotal role for the team and had 10 carries for 47 yards, including a seven-yard TD run.

The Corsairs also played well defensively, with former Eureka Logger Chase Steubing beginning to have a bigger impact.

After joining the team late in the preseason and switching from middle to outside linebacker,  Steubing has clearly settled in now and is making more and more plays.

He finished with six solo tackles and three assists, as well as a sack, 1.5 tackles for a loss and a pass break-up.

“He had a great game,” White said. “He was just all over the place.”

Steubing’s sack was one of six by the CR defense, including two by Jayden Sandusky, who also had 3.5 tackles for a loss.

“Our whole defense played well,” White said. “They’re relentless, they’re physical and they get after it.”

It wasn’t all good for the Corsairs, however, with three first-half fumbles allowing the visitors stay in the game early.

“That was a little disappointing,” White said. “We had talked about ball security this week.”

On the other other hand, the CR special teams had an outstanding day against a De Anza unit that struggled a lot.

The Corsairs will play their final home game against Gavilan at the Redwood Bowl next Saturday.

De Anza dropped to 5-3 on the season and 1-3 in conference.