fi360 News Week 7 MVP Kristopher Hutson
fi360 News Week 7 MVP
UCLA snaps losing stint against the Ducks
Pasadena, CA – A Bruin team desperate for a win came out and played desperation football Saturday at the Rose Bowl. UCLA ended its 6-game losing streak to Oregon with a 31-14 victory over the Ducks.
If UCLA wanted to keep alive any possibility of playing in a bowl game at the end of the season, a loss to Oregon wasn’t going to suffice.
In a season where UCLA’s defense hasn’t given QB Josh Rosen much of an opportunity to play with a modest lead, the Bruins jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
Both UCLA’s offense and defense took a step down in the 2nd quarter. Oregon shortened the Bruins lead to 7 on a 7-yard touchdown run by Oregon QB Braxton Burmeister. Burmeister would reach the end zone once again in the quarter, this time from 4-yards on a read-option.
UCLA’s offense fell out of rhythm after its first two drives and failed to get points on the board in the 2nd quarter to send both teams into the half tied at 14.
An Achilles heel for the UCLA defense the entire campaign has been allowing teams to convert on third and long situations. In the first, a couple of penalties on third down for the Bruins prolonged multiplied drives for the Ducks.
In the second half, UCLA’s defense forced Oregon into several third and long situations and much to head coach Jim Mora’s pleasure, they were able to get off the field.
“We performed really well today,” said safety Adarius Pickett, “It’s extremely important to get any turnover.”
Mora has been vocal about not having enough takeaways on the defensive end. In the first half, UCLA was able to cash in on a fumble recovery to give the team an early 7-0 lead. In the second, although they weren’t able to take advantage, UCLA’s defense gave its offense another extra possession when they picked off Burmeister in the third quarter.
UCLA added to their 17-14 lead in the 3rd quarter on a 40 play 87-yard drive that ended with a spectacular 22-yard touchdown run by Bolu Olorunfunmi. The Bruins added to their lead with a 1-yard touchdown pass from Rosen to Darren Andrews in the fourth quarter. UCLA held the Ducks scoreless in the second half.
Rosen finished the game 21 of 36 for 266 yards and 2 touchdowns. Walk-on WR Christian Pabico had himself a coming out party and lead the team with 99 yard receiving and 1 touchdown on 4 catches.
“We had some guys step up and do a tremendous job,” said coach Jim Mora, “That’s what it takes, takes a team banding together.”
UCLA will travel to Washington next week to take on the Huskies Stadium.
St John Bosco overcomes a slow start
Torrance, Ca- On Senior night St John Bosco Braves got all they could handle on the field from visiting Santa Margarita Eagles in close one 40-38 victory at Murdock Stadium at El Camino College.
Bosco now played back to back weeks at Murdock so the team is starting to feel at home and obtaining this hard fought win was well worth it.
Players make plays is a calling card for coaches, like Jason Negro who looks to put top kids on the field and expects them to perform.
Sophomore sensation Kristopher Hutson scored two touchdowns for the Braves to have a breakout game.
“It felt really good,” said Hutson “I was hungry and I had to step up and make plays.”
Santa Margarita started the game fast scoring the first 14 points behind quarterback Josaih Norwood. He scored second touchdown standing tall walking in end zone in 1st quarter 5:05 on the clock.
After first few series the momentum switched over to the Braves who scored 23 unanswered points to take lead 23-14 at the half.
DJ Uiagaleei standing 6’4 240 pounds throwing darts from the pocket that started to open up the running game. He threw for 400 yards passing and two touchdowns leading his team to victory.
Eagles defense lack of size they made up for it with heart and effort. They had three fourth down stops in the red zone slowing down the Braves.
The Eagles offensive battled back but in the end was a field goal away from a win.
These teams will continue to battle in Trinity League play for the rest of the season.
Game Photos click here www.fullimage360.com
USC survives a home scare from Utah
Los Angeles, CA – With 42 seconds left on the clock Utah Utes lines up to go for a two point conversion being down by one 28-27. The home town hero quarterback Troy Williams had ball in his hands rolling to his right dodging defends looking for a open man, but sacked from behind.
The USC Trojans who stormed back in second half scoring 21 unanswered points to get the victory at home over Utah 28-27.
“Great Job by our team,” said USC coach Clay Helton, “Players win games.”
USC started to mount it’s comeback at start of the 4th quarter when Sam Darnold’s athleticism allowed him to boot and make the defender leave tight end Josh Falo catch the tying touchdown 21-21.
Darnold is starting to trust his tight end Tyler Petite who he threw into double coverage almost a jump ball for score to close gap 21-14 with 5:56 in 3rd quarter. He connected with Petite in first half on a 52 yard touchdown.
The Coliseum has not been a good place for the Utes to play dropping seven of last eight meetings in Los Angeles.
Utah hometown hero from Los Angeles Troy Williams back behind center threw for 262 yards, with two touchdowns but was sacked 4 times too many. The last sack or tackle was the last draw.
“I feel like I had a good game. Not good enough,” said Williams, “Hopefully we just keep grinding.”
A nice compliment to Williams arm is running back Zack Moss who gained 141 on 20 carries to average 7.1 yards a carry.
Darnold second fumble of the game cost his team a touchdown for the first score of the game, 7 – 0 Utah 6:08 on the clock. But he stayed focused while Ronald Jones II and running game got started.
Jones rushed for 113 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown for 6.5 average.
This PAC-12 South showdown in primetime under the lights for east and west coast to see these teams square off didn’t disappoint.
Now after tonight victory the Trojans have a leg up in the division race for PAC-12 game. Next Trojans will travel to South Bend to face Norte Dame.
Crenshaw gets redemption with a win over rival Dorsey
Los Angeles, CA – Crenshaw running back Solomon Hassen took the handoff, broke a tackle near the sideline and raced 73 yards for a touchdown. The L.A. High transfer rushed for 172 yards and three touchdowns as Crenshaw beat rival Dorsey, 33-14, on Friday night.
The Cougars looked primed for a run at the Coliseum League title and maybe a deep run in the new Open Division playoffs.
“That was a statement to me,” Hassen said. “Nobody in the city can handle us, I’m talking to Narbonne right there.”
Crenshaw took a 7-0 lead on a 2-yard run by Hassen on the opening drive. After a Dorsey punt, quarterback Isaiah Johnson hit Dennis Patrick for a 47-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
“The game plan was to play fast,” Hassen said. “We wanted to get on top of them in the first quarter and we did that. They couldn’t hang with us from there.”
Dorsey looked for a spark and got it on a partially blocked punt, giving them good position at Crenshaw’s 28-yard line. Dons’ running back JoJuan Collins raced to the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown to cut Crenshaw’s lead, 14-7, in the second quarter.
“They beat us last year so I wanted to come out with the fire I had from the loss,” Johnson said. “We wanted to pound the rock inside. We have faster backs then their linebackers and it showed on the field.”
Johnson scored on a 13-yard run to extend the Cougars lead, 27-7, going into halftime. After a Crenshaw fumble, junior running back Charles Mincy Jr. scored from three yards out. Dorsey trailed Crenshaw, 27-14 in the third quarter.
Hassen scored his third touchdown of the game on a 35-yard run up the middle, putting the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. Hassen finished with 172 yards.
El Camino Homecoming was a hit
Torrance, CA – After back-to-back losses and a bye week, the El Camino College football team returned to the field in dramatic fashion, scoring early and often against rival L.A. Harbor College.
Freshman running back Jacobi Hardy scored three first half touchdowns to help El Camino beat the Seahawks, 48-20, on Thursday night at Murdock Stadium.
“We took care of business tonight,” said El Camino coach Gifford Lindheim. “It was a good win on homecoming. We have to get ready for a tough conference schedule, with Mt. SAC next week.”
El Camino has a number of running backs who can make things happen on offense. Hardy made the best of his opportunities against the Seahawks, scoring from three yards out on the Warriors opening drive.
On the ensuing drive, El Camino defensive lineman Shawn Richard stripped Seahawks’ quarterback Jalin Scott. The Warriors capitalized on the first play with Hardy’s 9-yard touchdown run.
“The O-line was making holes and creating space for me,” Hardy, who finished with 56 yards on 11 carries, said. “When it wasn’t there, I knew their defense could not do a lot against the speed so I just did what I could to get up field.”
Quarterback Cole Klayman extended the lead when he found wide receiver Trevon Clark in the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
Hardy scored his third touchdown of the first half on a 15-yard run and the rout was on. El Camino led at halftime, 35-0.
On defense, the Warriors forced six turnovers, including five interceptions from five different players.
“We think we have a pretty good football team,” Lindheim said. “We have showed that we can play with anybody.”
El Camino will travel to Covina District Field on Oct. 21 to take on Mt. SAC. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. L.A. Harbor will host Riverside City College.
Pac-12 Football Players of the Week – Week 6
Pac-12 Football Players of the Week – Week 6
OFFENSIVE: Khalil Tate, So., QB, Arizona (Inglewood, Calif.)
• Came off the bench to set the FBS single-game rushing record for a quarterback with 327 yards, which is second-highest for all players in UA school history and fifth-most in conference history.
• Totaled 208 yards on four touchdown runs (58, 28, 47 and 75 yards) for an average of 52.0 yards per score.
• Completed 12 of 13 pass attempts for 154 yards and one touchdown.
• Totaled 481 yards of offense, the fifth-highest tally in school history.
• Became second FBS quarterback ever (Jordan Lynch, NIU, 2013) to rush for 300 yards and pass for 150 in a game.
DEFENSIVE: Justin Reid, Jr., DB, Stanford (Prairieville, La.)
• Reid had a team-high seven tackles, added a game-changing tackle for loss and the game-clinching interception to lead Stanford to a 23-20 conference win over previously unbeaten Utah.
• Late in the third quarter, Stanford was clinging to a six-point lead on the road, and Utah had first-and-goal at the Stanford two-yard line. On first down, Reid assisted on a tackle to stuff the Utes at the one-yard line, and on the next play, Reid came up to pin the Utes for a one-yard loss. The Utes settled for a field goal, and Stanford never surrendered the lead.
• Reid had an interception for the third straight game as his late fourth quarter pick all but clinched Stanford’s first Top 25 road win in more than two years.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Erik Powell, RSr., K, Washington State (Vancouver, Wash.)
• Powell, the second-straight Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week honoree, connected on all four field goal attempts and all three extra points for a 15-point night in WSU’s 33-10 win at Oregon.
• Powell hit from 25, a career-best 52, 47 and 29 yards. His 52-yard field goal was the longest by a WSU kicker since 2013.
• Powell is second in the conference with 12 FGM, tied for the lead in total points (64) and second in field goal percentage (92.3).
• He also had four punts for 136 yards (34.0 avg.), none of which were returned, and had eight kickoffs that averaged 56.1 yards with one touchback.
Washington State remains undefeated
Eugene, OR – Washington State Cougars remains undefeated and rewrites history with 33-10 victory over the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium.
Washington State in their first game on the road to defend their perfect record of 5-0 tonight. The Ducks with a 4-1 record and ridden with injuries, set out to prove to the PAC-12 that they were not to be underestimated.
Two penalties on the first two plays of the game for Oregon, as they look to pick up the tempo early.
After an Oregon fumble Cougars’ running back Jamal Murrow takes it to the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown on the first offensive play of the game.
In the fourth quarter Braxton Burmeister throws an interception to Marcus Strong to put Cougars on Oregon 25-yard line. Falk then completes a pass to Isaiah Johnson-Mack in the end zone and Cougars are up, 30-10 early in the fourth quarter.
Despite proactive measures taken by the Oregon defense, Washington State remained in control on offense and defense.
According to Dye, “If you give up 33 points, you can’t expect to win a game. We just need to go back to the drawing board…”
Numerous penalties hurt Oregon’s defensive efforts as they could only score in the first quarter.
“I thought our defense played well”, explains Oregon head coach Willie Taggart, “I didn’t think we did enough offensively to show how well they played”.
Oregon Burmeister connects with tight end Jacob Breeland for his first collegiate touchdown and Ducks are up, 10-7.
Oregon’s defense dominates late in the first and Falk is unable to connect with his receivers.
Cougars waste no time increasing their lead early in the second half. Falk connects with Sweet for a 38-yard gain down to Oregon’s 10-yard line. Next play Bell catches a touchdown and Cougars are up now 20-10.
With eight minutes left in the third, defensive back Robert Taylor recovers a forced fumble by Burmeister. The turnover led to Powell adding three more points on the board for a 23-10 game.
Late in the fourth, Oregon’s defense holds the Cougar offense as Powell puts three points on the board to make it 33-10.
Falk completed more than 280 passing yards, 3 touchdowns beating out Duck’s former quarterback Marcus Mariota for 2nd-most in PAC-12 history.
Burmeister, in his first career start, left the field with 145 passing yards, 2 interceptions, and a touchdown.
Washington State remains undefeated at 6-0 and reigns victorious as No. 1 in the PAC-12 North.
Next up for the Ducks is Stanford on October 14th at Stanford Stadium, 8 p.m. PT.
USC coast to 38-10 win over Oregon State
Los Angeles, CA – The USC Trojans didn’t look much better Saturday after suffering their first loss of the season last weekend, but it was more than for a 38-10 victory over Oregon State at the Memorial Coliseum.
“Good win for our football team, any Pac-12 win is,” said USC head coach Clay Helton.
USC scored touchdowns on its first two possessions of the game but fell out of sync the remainder of the half. USC QB Sam Darnold continued his turnover woes with 2 more against the Beavers.
On The Trojans first possession, Darnold and USC came out hot picking up quick yards. The drive ultimately ended with a 37-yard touchdown pass from Darnold to WR Tyler Vaughns. The Trojan defense would make its first big pay of the day when DB Jack Jones came up with the first turnover of the day with an interception. USC cashed in on the giveaway and extended its lead 14-0 on a 4-yard scamper by Ronald Jones II.
“I really wanted to get out of the gate fast on the opening drive, as well as the next drive and after the turnover, which I had hoped happened,” said Helton.
That’s where it would turn south for the Trojans in the first half. USC had its first of 3 turnovers on the day in the first quarter after Ajene Harris was unable to haul in an Oregon State punt. On USC’s next possession Darnold would have his first giveaway. On the first play of the drive, Darnold had the ball slip out of his hand as he was winding up to throw, Oregon State recovered but were held to a field goal.
Darnold would sneak in one more turnover for his team before the end of the first half. Oregon State’s Manase Hanagulu intercepted a pass thrown by Darnold that had no USC player around.
“We’ll see what happened on the sack fumble, what a happened on the pass,” said Helton. “Those are things that you look up and you have 38 points, you took a knee, you have over 500 yards again and inside you know there is still more out there. That is a good thing.”
USC was able to the Beavers to just 3 points, blocking 1 of 3 attempts.
“Without looking at the game film, I felt our defense did an amazing job after being put in some situations and some field position with a muffed punt and a turnover offensively. To be able to hold that team to 3 points in the first half coming in I thought it was an amazing job,” added Helton.
The script wasn’t much different in the second half. USC added another score in its first possession of the half with Darnold’s third TD pass of the day.
Oregon State was finally able to break through the end zone to start the fourth quarter on a 6-yard run by Atravius Pierce.
Darnold finished the day 23 of 35 for 316 yards 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. Darnold has thrown an interception in all of USC’s games this season. Jones was the leading rusher for the Trojans with 79 yards and 1 touchdown on 12 carries.
RAMS SUPPORT “CRUCIAL CATCH” CAMPAIGN
RAMS SUPPORT “CRUCIAL CATCH” CAMPAIGN
As part of this weekend’s kickoff to the 2017 Crucial Catch: Intercept Cancer campaign, the Rams are dedicating Sunday’s contest against the Seahawks as their “Crucial Catch” game. This year, the National Football League and the American Cancer Society (ACS) are expanding their efforts to support the fight against cancer through the “Crucial Catch: Intercept Cancer” campaign. After nearly a decade of supporting breast cancer, the NFL and ACS have evolved the campaign to address early detection and risk reduction efforts for all cancers to increase their impact.
Players may wear cleats and wristbands in any color representing their cancer of choice during their team’s Crucial Catch game. Twelve Rams players who have a personal connection to cancer will wear colored cleats recognizing the cancers listed below:
| Player | Cancer | Color |
| DB – Blake Countess | Breast Cancer | Pink |
| S – Cody Davis | Kidney Cancer & Leukemia | Orange |
| WR – Cooper Kupp | Brain Cancer | Grey |
| T – Cornelius Lucas | Leukemia | Orange |
| G – Jamon Brown | Breast Cancer | Pink |
| P – Johnny Hekker | Lymphoma | Lime Green |
| WR – Josh Reynolds | Multiple Myeloma | Maroon |
| S – Marqui Christain | Lung Cancer | Pearl |
| DE – Morgan Fox | Skin Cancer | Black |
| WR – Robert Woods | Sarcoma | Yellow |
| WR – Tavon Austin | Breast Cancer | Pink |
| TE – Tyler Higbee | Prostate Cancer | Light Blue |
NFL-issued Crucial Catch branding and gameday apparel will feature a new multi-colored logo representing all cancers. Beginning on Sunday and continuing through Week 7, NFL Crucial Catch games will feature:
- Game balls with the Crucial Catch logo used for every down
- Multi-colored equipment for players including: helmet decals, captains’ patches, and quarterback towels
- Multi-colored ribbon pins for coaches and teams
- Caps and pins for game officials
- On-field multi-colored ribbon stencils and Crucial Catch wall banners
- Multi-colored goal post padding in end zones
Game-worn Crucial Catch merchandise and footballs will be autographed and auctioned at NFL Auction (nfl.com/auction). The NFL does not profit from the sale of Crucial Catch products on NFL Auction. Charitable contributions are donated to the American Cancer Society to support its CHANGE grant program.
Additional details about the ways the Rams are integrating “Crucial Catch” at Sunday’s game include:
- 100 fans who have fought or are currently battling cancer will be recognized in the end zone as the players take the field.
- The Rams will host a variety of non-profits and the cancer patients and families they serve including American Cancer Society, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Skin Cancer Foundation, Ronald McDonald House and Padres Contra El Cancer.
- Volunteers from Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA) will be positioned outside the Coliseum passing out pink breast cancer awareness ribbons to fans as they enter the stadium. ZTA is encouraging fans to use the hashtag #ZTAThinkPink to show their support while wearing their pink ribbons.
- Former linebacker CHRIS DRAFT and two Team Draft Survivor Series representatives will light the Coliseum torch prior to kickoff. In 2006, Draft met his wife, Keasha Rutledge, who helped him establish TEAM DRAFT, an initiative of the Chris Draft Family Foundation before passing away from lung cancer in 2011. More information is included below.
Since 2009, more than $18 million has been raised for ACS through the partnership. Money raised through Crucial Catch this season will support three screenable cancers: breast, colorectal and cervical. Funding will continue to support the American Cancer Society’s Community Health Advocates implementing Nationwide Grants for Empowerment and Equity (CHANGE) program, which provides outreach and cancer screenings to individuals in underserved communities. Since 2012, grant recipients have contributed to more than 152,000 screenings and more than 344,000 education and outreach interventions.
For the third consecutive year, healthcare centers in all 32 NFL team markets will receive a $50,000 CHANGE grant to increase access to screenings and additional cancer prevention and early detection programs. In addition, the NFL will again work with ACS and CHANGE grant recipients to host education sessions and/or screenings in their communities, and many NFL teams will participate in these educational activities, bringing these potentially life-saving messages and screening services to those who need them most.
Recent Stories
