SANTA CLARITA, Calif. – In College of the Canyons first home game of the season, sophomore Fred Winborn scored two touchdowns on the ground, caught one in the air, and passed one to teammate Hayo Carpenter to help the Cougars rout visiting Santa Barbara City College 56-6 Saturday night.
Winborn, the Cougar's all-time leading rusher since the football program was reinstated in 1998, scored two rushing touchdowns, caught a TD pass and connected with a COC wide receiver for one of the most complete scoring nights that COC fans have ever seen. The sophomore running back collected 223 yards rushing, 40 yards receiving and 35 yards passing for 298 offensive yards and accounting for 52 percent of the team's 576 total yards on the night.
The Cougars opened the game with a deep pass from quarterback Brad McClellan as he found his favorite receiver Carpenter for a 67-yard scoring pass. The kick by Ricky Drake, who was 8-of-8 on extra points, was good and COC took a 7-0 lead with 13:06 left in the first quarter.
COC's next seven points came about nine minutes later after freshman Arron Fisher picked SBCC's pass and returned it three yards to the Santa Barbara 44-yard line. With a short field, McClellan relied again on Carpenter for a catch of 24 yards and then a 31-yard bomb to Winborn for the score and a 14-0 advantage.
In the second quarter, play caller Joey Frias added another TD on an 11-yard carry with 9:22 left in the half. The 12 play, 72-yard march put COC up by three touchdowns, 21-0.
On the following Santa Barbara drive, the Cougar defense collected its second interception of the night – this time by linebacker Steve Gourley – who returned the ball 35 yards to the COC 45.
The turnover set up another Cougar 19-yard touchdown reception between McClellan and Carpenter, their second connection of the night.
The Cougars earned their final seven points of the half with 2:27 minutes left on a trick play. Running back Winborn aired out a pass to Carpenter who ran down the ball for a 35-yard reception touchdown.
With a 35-0 score, Winborn would score two of his own rushing touchdowns of 28-yards and 8-yards to open a 49-0 lead.
Santa Barbara got their first and only touchdown of the night in the final seconds of the third quarter from former Cougar quarterback turned Vaquero Austin Civita. The Vaqueros tried for the extra point, but the Jeremy Ybarra kick was blocked by defensive lineman Dejuan Yates.
COC added one more score in the fourth quarter and 8:45 left in the game with a 1-yard carry by running back Sean Quinn.
SBCC got in the red zone three times and only converted on one possession, while COC was 4-4 inside the 20-yard line.
The defense had eight sacks in the game, all coming against Civita, and held SBCC's running game to 52 yards.
Freshman defensive lineman Marquis Jackson topped the Cougars with six tackles, four solo, a pass breakup and one sack. Gourley finished the night with five tackles, two solo, an interception and one pass breakup.
Winborn had 15 carries for 223 yards and two touchdowns, while Carpenter caught six passes for 164 yards and three touchdowns. This is Carpenter's second consecutive game with three scores. The COC play callers were interception free for another game. McClellan finished the evening going 9-of-15 for 180 yards and three touchdowns.
The No. 3 Cougars are now 2-0 on the season and 9-2 in home openers, while the Vaqueros drop to 0-2 on the season.
The Cougars return to action on Saturday, Sept. 20 as they play host to non-conference team L.A. Valley in its homecoming game. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
