College of the Redwoods

Corsairs bounce back after tough loss, roll over Cabrillo 65-9

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One week after a disappointing loss against De Anza, the College of the Redwoods football team responded with an emphatic 65-9 win over Cabrillo at the Redwood Bowl on Saturday afternoon.

The Corsairs quickly took control against a mistake-prone Seahawks team and led 23-3 before the end of the first quarter.

And after that, there was no way back for the outclassed visitors, who scored just one touchdown for the game and were never in contention.

“They did not start out very well and that kind of set the tone at the beginning,” CR head coach Jason White said. “They could not stop our offense at all.”

With their receivers pretty much unstoppable, the Corsairs racked up 397 yards through the air and 200 more on the ground.

They led 44-9 at halftime, ending the game as a contest long before the break.

“Overall, the team played very well, and it was good to see us bounce back after an emotional loss last week,” White added.

The loss to De Anza all but ended any chance of winning this year’s American Pacific-7 conference championship.

Undefeated De Anza (4-0 in conference and 9-0 overall) continued to roll on Saturday with a 39-28 win over Siskiyous.

CR, which improved to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play, will close out the regular season at Siskiyous (6-3, 3-1) next week with second place in the final conference standings on the line.

A win would all but guarantee a third straight home bowl game for the Corsairs.

And if they continue to play like they did on Saturday, they should be able to achieve that.

The fast start was particularly impressive for a CR team that has started slowly in games too often this season.

“I was happy with the fact that we started fast,” White said. “We’ve had the MO of starting slow. We’ve started slow all year long, and today we started fast and we never let up.”

And they did so on both sides of the ball.

In particular, quarterback Bryton Livingston and the CR receivers dominated all afternoon.

Livingston completed 16 of 21 passes for 332 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions, before back-up QB Kade Bomberger took over and completed 6 of 11 passes for 65 yards and had one interception.

Several CR receivers had big games, including Glen “Phat” Williams Jr., who continued his very impressive season and finished with three receptions for 105 yards and a TD.

Jaydan Burns also impressed and added 85 yards  and a TD on five catches, while Anthony Aguirre added 54 yards and a touchdown on four receptions.

Victor Eicher also had three catches for 45 yards and former Del Norte Warrior Kaleb Price had two catches for 33 yards and a TD.

Running back Isaiah Hemmings, who has been the team’s most dangerous offensive weapon all season, scored a pair of touchdowns in limited action.

Hemmings was held to just 12 yards rushing on nine carries, but found the end zone twice, while also finishing with 55 yards on two receptions.

Twelve different Corsairs combined for the 200 yards rushing, led by Paxton Page and Hank Ollenberger, who each finished with 43 yards on the ground, on three and five carries, respectively.

Page scored two touchdowns, while Jordyn Bowers ran in for one.

White also praised the play of his offensive line, a unit that has performed well in almost every game this year.

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The team dominance was also felt on defense.

“Our defense played very well,” White said. “We only gave up one touchdown, and I’m very happy with how they’re maturing at this point.”

Another former Del Norte Warrior, Conner Long, continued to set the tone on defense, as he has been doing all season long, and finished with a team-best four tackles, including 2.5 tackles for a loss.

Former St. Bernard’s Crusaders Perry Bailey also had four total tackles, including 1.5 tackles for a loss.

Jackson Selden and Ronin Kimbrough each also had an interception in the win.

With the loss, Cabrillo dropped to 3-6 on the season.

The Corsairs will now turn their attention towards their regular-season finale at Siskiyous.

“Next week will be a huge battle for us,” White said.

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