The City College football team started its season with a bang on Saturday, capitalizing on Compton College’s mistakes to secure a 57-6 victory at home.
Sophomore Scotty Forbes made his first start at quarterback for the Vaqueros after winning a heated battle for the job. He led an efficient offense that avoided turnovers and relied on an explosive rushing attack to put points on the board.
Running backs Trey Hunter and Will Bayonne ran hard, making plenty of Compton defenders miss on the way to 76 yards and three touchdowns for Hunter and 59 yards and one touchdown for Bayonne.
City College started fast, taking advantage of a penalty-ridden first drive by the away team that ended in a short punt.
A good return by defensive back Tyree Barton gave the Vaqueros great starting field position, and a few plays later Hunter punched the ball into the end zone from the two-yard line.
Compton was forced to punt again, and on Hunter’s next carry he spun out of a tackle and reversed field for a 35-yard touchdown.
City College gained a 14-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game.
The team didn’t look back after establishing the early lead, building on it with two blocked punts for touchdowns and finishing the first half up 40-0.
Forbes had a great day, completing 67% of his passes and avoiding any interceptions before being pulled when the game was virtually out of reach for Compton.
Four quarterbacks saw the field in the blowout, a decision that was explained after the game by head coach Craig Moropoulos.
“I want to make sure they’ve been in a game and have got some live action,” he said.
He said Forbes had won the job and the competition was settled but he wanted to be prepared in case of injuries.
“It was a really tight, hard-fought battle and I’m grateful to have the chance to start,” Forbes said.
Even after leading the team in rushing yards, RB Trey Hunter said he was disappointed most of his touchdowns were short runs, but that he would look at the film to help him make bigger plays next week.
“We are trying to prove people wrong this year,” Hunter said.
After an away game next week, City College returns home at 6 p.m, Sep. 21 to battle College of the Canyons.
