Football sets school records with 67-18 win against West L.A. College

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. – The College of the Canyons (4-1, 3-0) scored a school record 10 touchdowns for a historic 67 points against visiting West Los Angeles College (0-5, 0-3) on Saturday night for the Cougars third consecutive Western State Conference victory. Previously, the most touchdowns in a game by a COC team was nine in 2000 and 2001 and the most points put on the board by Canyons was 66 in a 2000 game, which were both broken with the victory.

The evening started with the two teams scoring on their respective first two drives. The Cougars drew their first blood when quarterback Andrew Miramontes hit wide receiver Hayo Carpenter for a 35-yard touchdown pass. The point after attempt from kicker Paul Weinstein was good and Canyons went up 7-0.

West L.A. scored on its first possession, but missed a two-point conversion to place the Oilers behind by one point, 7-6. The next drive, COC marched the ball from its own 36-yard line to the West L.A. 43 in three plays before Miramontes connected with Thomas Kyle for a four-yard touchdown, marking Kyle's first score of the season.

Up 14-6 early in the first quarter, West L.A. closed in on the COC lead a little more with its own scoring drive, which resulted in a 14-12 score.

Canyons' defense finally settled and held the Oilers scoreless for two quarters and added some scoring of their own. Following a score on a one-yard keeper by Miramontes, his fourth rushing touchdown of the season, to start the second quarter, sophomore defensive back Taiino Herrera picked off a pass and returned in 36 yards for a score that put the Cougars up 26-12.

On the next drive, the defense came up with another interception by freshman defensive back Fred Anderson who returned the ball 48 yards for a touchdown to go up, 33-12. The COC defense intercepted the ball on the next possession, but the offense was not able to convert the turnover when Miramontes had his pass picked off by a West L.A. linebacker.

College of the Canyons finished off the half with another seven points at the 17-second mark from a 67-yard Fred Winborn rushing touchdown, placing the Cougars up 40-12.

The scoring continued in the third as COC scored on its first touch of the second half. Raphael Reynolds scampered one yard for his second rushing touchdown of the year, adding to the Cougar lead, 47-12.

On the ensuing West L.A. possession, Chris Black picked his second pass of the night, setting Reynolds up for his second score of the night – a 3-yard rushing touchdown. The extra point from Weinstein, who was 7-of-10 on the night, was good and COC went up 60-12.

The Cougars scored one more time before the end of the game on a four-yard carry from Brandon McDonald to score the Cougars school record 10th touchdown.

The win was the ninth time that COC has posted 60+ points in a game since 1998 and the third time that a Cougar team has garnered 50+ points in three consecutive contests. The College of the Canyons is now 49-8 at home since 1998.

Miramontes finished the evening going 15-of-22 for 185 yards and three touchdowns, while Carpenter had five catches for 103 yards and one touchdown. Winborn had another excellent game with 11 carries for 113 yards and one score and Reynolds had eight rushes for 51 yards and two touchdowns.

Anthony Luna and Job Lujan finished with five tackles to lead the team and Jason Pierre-Paul had three tackles (one solo), a tackle for a loss of four yards, one pass breakup and two sacks for a loss of 22 yards. Black and Anderson recorded two interceptions each and as a team, the defense grabbed six interceptions.

As a team, the offense mustered 372 yards of yardage. The total could have been more, but the squad had 16 penalties called against them, resulting in 287 yards. The defense held West L.A. to 231 yards total, 233 yards in the air and -2 yards on 26 carries.

The Cougars have the next weekend off before traveling to Glendale College for a cross divisional game. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.