Mikey Duro | Lead Copy Editor

Quarterback Dylan Moreno hands the ball off to running back Christopher Washington. [Photo Credit Amari Yolas.]

Quarterback Dylan Moreno "doing his thing," as the injured Michael Cruz said. [Photo Credit: Amari Yolas.]

Quarterback Dylan Moreno stands with his helmet off showing his double-cross face paint. [Photo credit: Amari Yolas.]

Corsairs try to rally around Quarterback Dylan Moreno, starting in place of Michael Cruz. [Photo Credit: Amari Yolas.]

Quarterback Dylan Moreno keeps the ball and runs it in for a touchdown. [Photo Credit: Amari Yolas.]

The Panthers’ ground game dominated as the Corsairs’ offense sputtered.

The Chaffey College Panthers men’s football team came onto Corsair field against the SMC Corsairs on Saturday afternoon and took control of the game early At the end, there was no doubt which team came in more prepared and hungry for the win, with Chaffey winning 57-24.

On the opening drive of the game, after the refs likely missed a false start by the offense, the Panthers went for it on the fourth down to pick up the first and later scored a one-yard rushing touchdown. The score 7-0, the Corsairs were challenged to answer back.

With starting quarterback Michael Cruz out for the game with a foot injury, the Corsairs went with Dylan Moreno at quarterback, who played well in the first half of the game. Moreno scored two rushing touchdowns in the first and third possessions of the game for the Corsairs.

“He’s gonna do his thing,” said Cruz, referring to Moreno starting in his place, adding that he was confident in Moreno’s ability to lead the team.

The Panthers continued to control the game with a pounding run game led by running back Jayson Cortes, who finished the game with 240 yards rushing and four touchdowns on 31 attempts, averaging 7.7 yards per carry. The score was 21-7 at the end of the first quarter with the Panthers getting easy rushing touchdowns after some big passes by their starting quarterback, Dereun Dortch.

The Corsairs kept the score close early on, bringing it to 21-14 off of Moreno’s second rushing touchdown of the game at the begining of the second quarter. That drive was complemented with a big gain from wide receiver Joey Acciardo off a pass from Moreno that traveled over 20 yards through the air.

The next drive by the Panthers highlighted the Corsairs’ defensive woes throughout the game, as they struggled to finish tackles under the downhill running style of Cortes. The running back consistently broke tackles for big gains, and scored the Panthers’ fourth touchdown in as many possessions. After the touchdown, loud taunts of “Too easy!” could be heard from the Chaffey sidelines.

The Corsairs’ struggles on offense then began and they punted on the ensuing possession, almost resulting in a runback for a touchdown were it not for being called back by the refs for a flag on the play. The Panthers wished they could have kept that touchdown after Corsair defensive back Ammarion Kinniebrew stepped in front of a Dortch-thrown ball for the game’s only interception.

With a facemask penalty putting the Corsairs into the red zone, there was hope they could capitalize off of the turnover and bring themselves back into the game. However, they had to settle for a field goal after a key quarterback sack by the Panthers on third down.

The score was 34-17 at halftime after the Panthers went for it again on fourth down and scored another touchdown, while missing the extra point. Corsair fans in the stands were disappointed, but remained optimistic their team could make a better showing in the second half.

Greg Lambert, father of Corsairs wide receiver Cody Lambert, offered his take on how the team could make a better showing in the second half. “Just calm down, play their game. Some of the starters are out, injured from last game.Just believe in them, believe in their system and the coaches. ” he said.

As it turned out, it was the Panthers who got stronger in the second half, and they scored 21 points in the third quarter to run the score up to a height the Corsairs could not come back from. Their defense, led by defensive back Azariah “Bear” Levells, kept up the pressure and held the Corsairs to only seven second-half points.

Although the Corsairs struggled throughout the game, as the Panthers scored touchdowns on all but two of their possessions, they had a few standouts on the defense.

The star of the Corsairs defense, defensive back Jai Guess, had eight overall tackles and seemed to be everywhere on the field whenever a stop was made. There was also linebacker Kylan Keeler, the emotional leader of the defense that was often on the sidelines motivating the rest of the defense, finishing with 10 assisted tackles.

In the fourth quarter and Chaffey up 55-24, the Panthers went for an all-run game to wind down the clock. The final point increase occurred when the Panthers scored a safety early in the fourth quarter.

“It was just good that we could all come out as a team and dominate,” Panthers defensive back Levells said. “We got hit in the mouth a couple times but football is about the response and how you respond … I’m just happy that the defense came to play, the offense came to play, and we had a good team win.”

Corsairs’ Head Coach Kelly Ledwith offered some insight into how he thought the team played. “I was pleased to see that they fought and played together all the way through the end. And obviously we played a good team that came out well prepared for some of the things we do, nothing that we didn’t expect, they just came out and executed well,” he said.

The Corsairs have a full week to prepare for their next game, and they hope that it will go better and that their starting quarterback will be back in action. Leaving the field with the rest of the team, the injured Cruz confidently said, “I’m gonna play next week.”

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