Culver City, CA (Football) – Citrus College football ran their divisional record to 7-0 on Saturday afternoon with a 44-14 beat down of West LA. The Owl’s will move on to the Southern California playoffs, and most likely play the #1 seed.
The Owl’s defense and offense clicked on all cylinders from the very start. The Owl’s defense was extremely stout, not allowing the Oilers to cross the Citrus 40 yard line until a little over 5 minutes were left in the 3rd quarter.
The Owl’s offense handed the Oilers a steady dose of Leonard Mason, who led the Owl’s in rushing and receiving, carrying the ball 19 times for a total of 172 yards and 2 touchdowns while averaging 9.1 yards a carry. Mason also caught 4 passes 45 yards, for well over 200 total yards of offense for the day. With his 172 yards on the ground, Mason surpassed 1,000 yards on the season, bringing his season total thus far to 1,010 yards rushing.
The Owl’s offense came out and scored on its first 3 possessions. After settling for a 24 yard field goal from Kirk Cabana, the Owl’s took the ball 56 yards on 9 plays for a touchdown scored by a strike from Bryan Waggener to Phillip Kerber putting the Owl’s up 10-0.
The next Owl’s possession would see them go 12 plays and 65 yards, capped off by a 2 yard touchdown run from Mason. Two possessions later the Owl’s would strike again as the Owl’s banged the ball inside with a 2 yard score from Brandon Sellers. Going into half-time the Owl’s led 24-0.
After half-time, the Owl’s received the ball on took 2 minutes to drive 72 yards in only 4 plays for yet another scoring drive. It was Mason again who scored off a 35 yard run. On the ensuing kick-off, the Oilers Ryan Henry fumbled the ball on his return, and Willie Price jumped on the ball at the West LA 19 yard line. While the Owl’s stalled out in their running game for the only time of the day, Kirk Cabana came in to drill his 2nd field goal of the day this one from 25 yards out.
The Owl’s would score twice more before the game was up, with Sellers getting another touchdown rush, this time from 5 yards out, and kicker Jarred Gross kicking a 14 yard field goal.
The Owl’s defense was its normally stingy self, yielding only 253 yards of total offense, most of which came well into the 2nd half. Citrus only allowed 61 yards on the ground and 192 through the air, while allowing the Oilers to score twice.
The first Oilers score came late in the 3rd quarter when Jerrell Woods broke off a 54 yard touchdown run, and in the early part of the 4th quarter as Boomer Wells completed a 39 yard touchdown pass to Eddie Newton.
In the win, Bryan Waggener completed 10 of 17 passes for 112 yards and one touchdown. After Mason came out of the game, Gerame Vaden proved to be a reliable back-up rushing for 59 yards on 12 carriers.
Defensively, the Owl’s were led by Demarcus Flanagan, who recorded 6 tackles (5 solo, 2 assisted) and 2.5 tackles for a loss. Nick Williams had 4.5 tackles (3 solo, 3 assisted) including 2.5 tackles for a loss.
The Owl’s dominated the time of possession holding on to the ball for 38 minutes, compared to West LA hanging on to the ball for 21 minutes. The Owl’s were also 2 of 2 on 4th down conversion, while the Oilers were 0 for 3.
With the win the Fighting Owl’s improve to 7-3 overall and 7-0 in WSC South play. The Owl’s qualify for the 1st round of play-offs. Their opponent will be decided later this weekend.
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