By Jesse Muñoz
COC Sports Information Director
MONTEREY PARK — College of the Canyons sophomore quarterback Jazel Riley IV scored on a 5-yard keeper late in the fourth quarter to power the Cougars past East L.A. College 14-10 on Saturday night.
Canyons (2-5, 2-2) evened its record in Southern California Football Association, National Division, Central League play while also notching its first road win of the season.
Riley scored both touchdowns for the Cougars with his first scoring run coming on a 3-yard scamper with 3:03 to play in the opening half for the first points of the game. Justin Assadi’s PAT was good as COC took the early 7-0 lead just before the break.
That’s where things stayed until East L.A. (2-5, 1-3) tied the game at 7-7 with 7:25 to go in the third quarter on a 1-yard scoring run by CJ Bozeman.
In the closing seconds of the quarter, ELAC took the lead at 10-7 with a 29-yard field goal that capped an 11-yard, 48-yard drive. The scoring sequence was set up by a recovered fumble by the Huskies’ defense.
On COC’s next offensive series Riley was intercepted on the first play of the fourth quarter to give ELAC the ball back.
The Cougars’ defense forced an East L.A. punt to regain possession. From there, Riley and company were able to put together an 11-yard scoring drive that culminated with the sophomore signal caller’s second score.
In a game where yards were hard to come by, Riley finished the contest 7 of 15 for 57 yards and the interception. He also rushed for 36 yards on 11 carries.
Isaiah Rameau led the team with 70 yards on the ground, including a long gain of 15 yards. Paul Kamdem led COC with a pair of catches for 31 yards.
Canyons ended the night with 172 yards of total offense compared to 288 from the Huskies.
ELAC quarterback Logan Ebnet passed for 208 yards, finishing 19-of-32 for the game. Bozeman was his team’s leading rusher with 97 yards coming on 28 carries. Jaden Thomas led the receiving corps with six catches for 67 yards.
Adam Geukens recorded a game-high 10 total tackles for the Cougars, including five solo stops. Judah Plett was next with seven tackles and 1.5 sacks.
Charles Milner also finished with 1.5 sacks alongside seven total tackles. Timote Kupu and Nicholas Tonga also recorded a half-sack each. The Cougars’ defense ended the evening with 10.5 tackles for loss, while the secondary added seven pass break ups, including three from Oskari Toijala.
Canyons next hosts Orange Coast College at noon on Saturday, Oct. 25, from Cougar Stadium.
