The No. 6/11 Long Beach City College football squad played host to the No. 15 College of the Canyons Cougars on Saturday evening on home turf under the lights in Viking Memorial Stadium. Despite trading scores in the opening quarter, the Vikings pulled away in dominating fashion by tying their season-high points total and pumping out 521 total yards of offensive while halting the Cougars to just 209 yards en route to a commanding 41-14 victory.
The Vikings did not hesitate to reserve the end zone early in the contest, as freshman quarterback Jake Maier (La Habra, CA) linked up with sophomore wide receiver Jaylen Watson (Los Angeles, CA) on a 27-yard bomb to cap off an eight play, 76 yard drive leading to an early 7-0 advantage.
However, the Cougars responded with a score of their own to tie to contest up at 7-7.
Long Beach began to stomp on the gas pedal on both sides of the pigskin, starting with the defense. After the Cougars scored their opening six points, the Vikings held them to just 40 total yards through the remainder of the first half. Freshman linebacker Manu Tui-Enesi (Carson, CA) helmed the defense by recording multiple stops.
The offense fed off the defense's prowess as Maier followed by slinging a 19-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Watson over the middle. He promptly shed three tacklers and waltz into the end zone to give the Vikings a 14-7 advantage. Check out the video here.
Watson found the end zone once again for the Vikings in the second quarter with Maier hitting him in stride for a 51 yard touchdown pass to expand the Long Beach lead to 20-7. Freshman wide receiver Kyrin Cannon (Carson, CA) got in on the action shortly after by grabbing a 23-yard touchdown pass from Maier, giving the Vikings a 27-7 advantage at halftime.
The Cougars came out and drew first blood in the third quarter, but the Vikings remained resilient and pounded out a score in each quarter, starting with sophomore wide receiver Jacob Welsh (Huntington Beach, CA) catching a perfectly placed ball from Maier with 3:28 minutes remaining in the third quarter to push the score to 34-14.
Watson and Maier continued to remain unstoppable by linking up for another touchdown leading to a 41-14 victory.
Maier stole the offensive show under center by passing for a career-high six touchdown stemming from a 26-for-35 night with 348 yards through the air. Furthermore, Maier rushed seven times for 44 yards with a 19-yard scramble coming as his longest.
Watson dominated the aerial attack by hauling in a total of eight grabs that went for 175 yards and a trio of touchdowns. Jabari Minix backed him with six grabs for 48 yards, while Cannon and Welsh each recorded a touchdown.
Tui-Enesi lead the way on defense with eight tackles. Freshman defensive end Scotty Fao (Wilmington, CA) was a monster in the backfield by making five stops with three and one half coming for a combined 17 loss. Freshman defensive lineman Abedayo Soremekun (Long Beach, CA) continued to make his mark by recording six stops.
Long Beach truly dominated all aspects of the game by totaling 398 passing yards, 123 rushing yards, and 30 first downs. Additionally, Long Beach's third down efficiency was exceptional with a 7-for-15 mark to equal 47 percent versus the Cougars 17 percent.
Head Coach Brett Peabody shared some insight about his team's performance following the commanding victory.
"Overall, I thought we played a pretty darn good game," explained Peabody. "We've had some concerns about second-half woes, but I thought we did some really good things there."
The Vikings (3-1) will take on Golden West on Saturday, October f1st at 6 p.m. in Viking Memorial Stadium.