Harbor City, CA – The Carson Colts (3-3) offense was bobbing and weaving through the Narbonne Gauchos (0-6) defense all game to lead Carson to a dominating 42-6 win Friday night.
Carson Head Coach Michael Christensen commented on how they were able to bounce back from a tough loss last week against the Banning Pilots.
“I’m really proud of our kid’s effort. They played really hard. We still made some silly mistakes but we kind of fixed some things that we had screwed up last week. So that’s always a good sign. We’re just trying to get better every week,” said Christensen.
Narbonne only touchdown was scored by senior receiver Brandon Neal for a 67-yard reception to the house at the 2:53 mark to be down by one 7-6 in the first quarter.
This was the closest Narbonne would get as Carson soon responded.
Carson senior Akai Johnson scored on a kickoff return, cutting through the defense on a fearless run to put his team up 14-6 with 2:33 minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Carson’s secondary was on the prowl.
With 27 seconds left, a 60-yard interception by senior Jaden Jones put Carson up 28-6 at the half.
At the top of the third quarter, Carson grabbed another interception out of thin air at the 50-yard line.
Carson Jones turned on the jets with a 40-yard reception to create a 36-point deficit to go up 42-6 with 4:43 minutes left in the third quarter.
“We have to learn how to be trustworthy in one another,” said Narbonne head coach Malcolm Manuel. “The physicality is there. We just gotta trust each other. When you want to win games, you have to trust the guy next to you. It can’t come from ten guys when there’s eleven guys on the field. I’m still waiting on that trust. Slowly but surely, we’re getting there. Once we learn how to trust each other we’ll be pretty good.”
Austin Dotson who is a former Carson Colt football player, a Gymshark athlete, an ‘All-American’ show actor, and who has amassed almost 400k Instagram followers came out to show his support for both teams.
Dotson reflects on how nostalgic this moment was for him as a former player of Coach Christensen. He is also one of Coach Manuel’s best friends.
“It’s a crazy feeling,” said Dotson. “Because I just remember myself under these lights you know running around playing and giving my all and to the same coach that was coaching me. It’s been twelve years. So, seeing him [Coach Christensen] he looks exactly the same and [coaches] with the same intensity. And then also the head coach of Narbonne was one of my best friends on the field at the same time. It’s just a crazy surreal moment to be out here supporting both teams. I’m just neutral. I support young men being healthy and doing what they love to do.”
Coach Christensen shared some thoughts on Dotson as one of his former players.
“Oh, Austin’s [Dotson] a great kid. He was a great kid when he was with me at Carson. I see his commercials and stuff and he’s always been a pretty boy, so it doesn’t surprise me that he’s doing well. So, it’s always nice. That’s one of the nicest things about coming back to Carson is seeing the former players just coming out to support. It’s pretty cool.”
Coach Manuel commented on what Austin’s support meant to him.
“It’s a blast. We’ve literally been best friends since we were about four or five years old. We grew up together around the corner from each other. My freshman year we went to Carson together. We’ve been tight all of our lives. It’s great having him here. He’s taking pictures for us, and he pulls me aside and helps me out here and there. I would not want to have anybody else here other than him. That’s my guy. I’m so happy for his support and I’m thankful for it.”
The Carson Colts go on the road against the San Pedro Pirates next Friday, October 22nd at 7 pm.
