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Freshman running back Isaiah Hemmings continued to impress for College of the Redwoods on Saturday, as the Corsairs traveled to Los Medanos and won 44-31.

The win, which was the team’s third straight, lifts CR to 2-0 in the American-Pacific 7 Conference and 5-1 on the season.

Hemmings has been instrumental in the team’s success this year and that continued to be the case on Saturday, as he scored three touchdowns for the second straight week.

The Salt Lake City native rushed for 222 yards and two TDs on 27 carries for an average of 8.2 yards a carry, and he also had three receptions for 28 yards and another touchdown.

“I’ve said it week in, week out, that kid’s just consistent,” CR head coach Jason White said. “He’s got great vision, and the first guy never brings him down.”

After a series of slow starts by the CR defense in recent weeks, White challenged his players to begin the game better this week and the players did not disappoint.

The CR defense shut out the home team for the first half, and with Hemmings and the offense moving the ball effectively the Corsairs opened up a quick 14-0 lead.

Quarterback Bryton Livingston also had a good game and connected with big-play receiver Anthony Aguirre on a 48-yard TD pass early in the first quarter to open the scoring.

Later in the quarter, the visitors stretched the advantage to 14 on a one-yard TD run by Jordyn Bowers.

However, the early momentum would slip away.

On their next drive, the CR offense drove into Los Medanos territory, but a high snap resulted in a fumble and Los Medanos’ Sean Cervantes took it 67 yards to the end zone to cut the deficit in half.

Penalties also didn’t help matters for the Corsairs.

“All of a sudden we lost all of our momentum,” White said. “We were up 14-7 (at halftime) and it felt like it should have up 30 to nothing.”

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That, however, would turn out to be a minor setback and the Corsairs quickly took control of the game again in the second half, thanks in large part to the effective ground attack and another good performance by the offensive line, which paved the way for Hemmings’ success.

They would add to their lead midway through the third quarter when Hemmings found the end zone on a nine-yard TD run, and after the Los Medanos offense scored its first TD of the game a couple of minutes later to cut the deficit to 21-13 the Corsairs quickly ended the game as a contest with three consecutive scores.

The first of those came on a 97-yard extra point return by Jamieson Martin to score two points, before Hemmings added two more TDs, the first on a four-yard reception from Livingston and the second on a 10-yard run.

That put the Corsairs up 37-13 early in the fourth.

Kaleb Price would add a five-yard TD pass with eight minutes remaining for CR’s final score of the day, before the home team responded with a couple of late TDs against the CR back-ups.

CR kicker Ryan Thomas was six-for-six on PATs.

For the game, Livingston completed 19 of 24 passes for 268 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, and the freshman QB has quickly established himself as a key part of what the Corsairs do on offense in his first season with the team.

“He was very efficient today,” White said. “He protected the ball well. He’s in full control of our offense right now. He knows what’s going on. And he’s great with his decision making and he’s very athletic too.”

The freshman QB spread the ball around effectively, with three of his receivers finishing with 48 yards receiving or more.

Aguirre had two catches for 57 yards and the TD, while Victor Eicher had three catches for 55 yards and Glen “Phat” Williams Jr. had three catches for 48 yards.

Defensively, Victory Orikannu Simon finished with a team-high seven tackles for the Corsairs and an interception, while Ronin Kimbrough had another good game and added six tackles.

Isaia Tagaloa also had an interception, while Conner Long had a sack.

“I was just real happy with the whole defensive performance,” White said. “And I think we’re just going to keep building on that.”

The Corsairs have a bye next week, before playing at Yuba the following Saturday.

With the loss, Los Medanos dropped to 3-3.