On Saturday, September 24, COS Football shut down Shasta College and asserted offensive dominance from start to finish, winning the game 51-17. This victory comes as their second in a row, and both wins saw the offense scoring above 40 points, as well as 25 points within the first half of both games.

The quick start in both games is an example of the mentality that COS Football head coach Travis Burkett wants his roster to have, and one of his trademark statements to the team is consistently to, “Start fast”.

“One of the things that’s underrated about teaching, coaching, and parenting is that it’s not a magic scheme or anything like that. You just have to emphasize it verbally and in your actions, and we just said, ‘Hey, we need to start fast’ so we’re emphasizing that in our wording and our actions, and so our practice methodology has changed ever so slightly to emphasize that,” Burkett said.

Not only has starting fast offensively been a part of these past two wins but playing against two tough teams in the first two weeks of the season has also been a key factor in their success.

“We played a really really good opponent the first two weeks, and I think that it’s human nature to look at it and go, we can stand toe to toe with good opponents, and the thing we know is that every team we play is good. When you know you played a good opponent, with a really great program, we know we can stand toe to toe with anybody,” Burkett said.

It’s clear that the confidence in the process and the program that has been built has led to these past two victories and will continue to lead to future success and potential championships for this team, especially with them now being rated at 16th in the state as of September 27.

As for the game on September 23, the scoring started off on the third play of the game from a monstrous 72-yard punt return touchdown from David Alcantar, which put the Giants up on the scoreboard and marked the only time in which this game was even remotely close at 7-0 with still 12 minutes to play in the quarter.

After eight more minutes of play had passed, COS was able to bring another one to the house courtesy of a 26-yard dart from Nathan Lamb that connected with DeWayne Coleman, bringing the score up to 14-0.

To cap off the scoring in the first quarter, Tae Marks caught a 21-yard pass from Nathan Lamb with just 32 seconds until the start of the second quarter. This brought the score up to 21-0 for the time being, and it would stay that way until 55 seconds were left in the second, where AJ Dixson managed to shove his way in for a touchdown on a three-yard run.

At halftime, the score was an awe-inspiring 27-0 after Kurt Kawamoto missed his only extra point of the game on the previous scoring play. However, he would make up for this by making the only scoring play of the third, which was a 24-yard field goal that brought the score to 30-0.

The fourth quarter saw a lot of action in this daytime brawl but was started off by a 1-yard run by Aidan Galvan for a touchdown, putting the score at 37-0, and was immediately followed by an interception that was returned for another TD, and left the Giants up 44-0 with still 11 minutes to play in the quarter.

Shasta was able to bounce back a bit near the end of the game, punching through the concrete wall defense that COS was able to maintain for the entirety of this game with a short five-yard pass that put the score at 44-7.

The heart of the players from Shasta cannot be overlooked, since they truly played the game out to the end regardless of how stomped on they had been that morning.

After another Aidan Galvan run (nine yards) put the Giants up 51-7, Shasta was able to answer back with a 32-yard pass for the final scoring play of the game and left the score at 51-14 at the end of the late morning matchup.

On 22 total first downs, 345 total offensive yardage, 155 return yardage, and with just two turnovers and four sacks from the defense, COS managed to retain dominance in all three phases of football throughout every part of this game, barring possibly the middle portion of the fourth quarter.

COS’ total time of possession lasted a whole 11 minutes longer than Shasta, showing just how much better the program has gotten at keeping control of the ball, especially when compared to some of their tougher matchups earlier in the season. Coach Burkett commented on this after the game, saying,

“Our biggest success today, even though we weren’t doing great offensively, was continuing to possess the football. There was a stretch there where we weren’t doing well, but even though we weren’t doing well we continued to possess the football.”

Humble as he is, it is clear for everyone to see that the COS offensive unit was an absolute monster during this game, and some of the standout players in this game have some of the most impressive stats they have produced all season.

Tailback John Friend led the team in rushing yards with 78 on six carries and averaged 13 yards per carrying. However, his arm was broken during the game, and his condition to play for the rest of the season is unknown at this time.

Quarterback Nathan Lamb completed 13 passes on 21 attempts, for a total of two touchdowns and 180 passing yards with just one interception given up. Wide Receiver AJ Dixson led the team in receiving, with 36 yards on one catch. Players Anthony Valencia, Tae Marks, DeWayne Coleman, and Rolondo Holmes all had two catches with a total of 20 or more yards each.

Kicker Kurt Kawamoto made all but a single extra point this game, made even more impressive by the number of touchdowns that were scored, thus giving him many opportunities for kicks. As was said earlier, he made his only field goal of the game and therefore was 1/1. In total, he contributed nine points to the team.

For defense, players Hayden Scott, Isaak Guzman, Camron Miller, and Isaiah Jackson combined for four sacks with a loss of 22 total yards.

Overall, to Burkett, this game was a success in terms of communication and playing ability among the players, coaches, and the program as a whole.

“Offense, defense, kicking and coaching wise, I think that everyone did a good job in coming out and understanding of, you know, ‘we’re playing this play,’” Burkett said.

For more sports and other news, make sure to check out thecampusjournal.com, and make sure to use our links there to check out all of the video content we have coming this semester.