College Football:
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor
Wow.
Citrus College opened the 2023 season on Saturday night, and the Owls jumped out to a 31-7, first-half lead over their visitors from College of the Canyons.
Next thing you knew, the Citrus lead was cut to 31-28.
The Cougars had two late drives that got as deep as the Citrus 5-yard line, and with the chance of taking their first lead of the game.
But Drew Merrill picked a Canyons pass on the second to final drive and ran it back 58 yards before getting tackled.
With just under two minutes to play, the Cougars had one last chance at the Citrus 5, but the Owls’ defense held Canyons on downs.
Citrus escaped with a 34-28 victory.
That extends the program’s current win streak to 15 games, which is reportedly the second longest active win streak in the state of California.
And the boys that returned from last year’s 11-0 run still haven’t lost a college football game.
On their first offensive play of the year, Jesse Carmona caught a pass and then tossed a 60-yard TD to Maurice Hampton for the 7-0 lead.
After a Bryce Dickson 3-yard run tied the game at 7-7, Citrus would score the next 24 points.
Kosuke Kayahara booted a 30-yard field goal, and Tayvonne Miller extended the Owls lead to 17-7 with his 3-yard TD run.
Kannon Katzer broke a few tackles and scored on a 40-yard sprint into the east end zone, and 1:15 of game clock later, Katzer caught a 7-yard scoring strike from Jack Benson.
Canyons scored just before the end of the first half, when Cameron Bowen caught a 6-yard TD pass from Zach Johnson to pull to within 31-14.
On the opening kickoff of the second half, Citrus fumbled the ball and the Cougars immediately cashed it in on an Emery Floyd 7-yard TD run.
Floyd’s 5-yard run with 7:03 to play in the third quarter pulled Canyons to within 31-28.
Kayahara’s 27-yard field goal with 5:25 remaining in the third quarter gave Citrus a little breathing room at 34-28.
And that staunch Citrus defense refused to let a winning streak that dates all the way back to October 30th of 2021 get snapped on their watch.
Chandler Carthan led Citrus with eight tackles, and the former Ayala star had a 45-yard average on his four punts on Saturday night.
Cody Stordahl and Drew Merrill had six tackles apiece in the win.
Jack Benson completed 11 of his 15 pass attempts for 116 yards.
He threw one TD pass and one interception.
Koy Riggin saw a few series at quarterback and he was 6-of-8 for 74 yards.
Miller led the Owls with 70 yards rushing and one score on 20 carries, and Katzer carried the ball six times for 54 yards and one TD.
Carmona caught four passes for a game-high 89 yards, and Maurice Hampton had three receptions for 78 yards and one TD.
Kayashara deserves his share of the credit, going 2-of-2 on field goals and converting on all four extra-point attempts.
A lot of mistakes were made and a couple of near disasters were averted, but all things considered, Citrus coach Brandon Hayashi and his staff have to be excited and relieved to have staved off a valiant Cougars charge.
Just below are some scoring plays and video interviews.
Up next: The Owls travel to Mt. San Jacinto next Saturday at 6.
Box Score:
Canyons: 7-7-14-0-(28)
Citrus: 10-21-3-0-(34)
Scoring:
Citrus: Maurice Hampton 60 pass from Jesse Carmona. (Kosuke Kayahara kick)
Canyons: Bryce Dickson 3 run. (Asa Johnson kick)
Citrus: Kosuke Kayahara 30 FG
Citrus: Tayvonne Miller 3 run. (Kosuke Kayahara kick)
Citrus: Kannon Katzer 40 run. (Kosuke Kayahara kick)
Citrus: Kannon Katzer 7 pass from Jack Benson. (Kosuke Kayahara kick)
Canyons: Cameron Bowen 6 pass from Zach Johnson. (Asa Johnson kick)
Canyons: Emery Floyd 7 run (Asa Johnson kick)
Canyons: Emery Floyd 5 run (Asa Johnson kick)
Citrus: Kosuke Kayahara 27 FG
Records: Canyons (0-1); Citrus (1-0)
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