Eagle Offense Shines in Home Opener, Beat Moorpark

MSJC's Taliq Brown had 7 catches for 147 yards and 2 touchdowns Saturday as the Eagle football team picked up a 60-30 win over Moorpark.  (Austin Schmidt-MSJC)
MSJC's Taliq Brown had 7 catches for 147 yards and 2 touchdowns Saturday as the Eagle football team picked up a 60-30 win over Moorpark. (Austin Schmidt-MSJC)

The MSJC offense put almost 500 yards of offense up on Saturday as they defeated Moorpark 60-30 in their 2022 home opener.

The Eagles took an early lead when Robert Coleman threw a 7 yard touchdown pass to Taliq Brown midway through the first quarter.  A two point conversion made the score 8-0 and MSJC would not give up the lead the rest of the afternoon.  Moorpark did cut the lead to 8-6 by the end of the first quarter, but then 17 straight points by MSJC would give them control of the game.  Nathaniel Peterson kicked a 25 yard field goal early in the second period to push the MSJC lead to 11-6.  The Eagles then seized the momentum when Carsten Mamaril blocked a Morrpark field goal attempt and then scooped up the ball and ran it 70 yards for an MSJC touchdown to push the lead to 18-6.  Jaylen Magee would tack on an 11 yard TD run extend the lead to 25-6.  The Raiders did close the gap to 25-16 with less than a minute to play before halftime, but a quick 2 play 72 yard drive capped off by a 33 yard scoring pass from Coleman to Brown gave the Eagles a 32-16 halftime lead.

Moorpark came out in the second half and drove down the field to score on their opening drive to cut the lead to 32-23, but that was as close as they would get.  Two third quarter scores by the Eagles put the game away as David Vandenburg caught a 12 yard touchdown pass from Coleman and Taylor Tosches scored on a 50 yard pass play.  Magee would add another fourth quarter rushing TD for the Eagles and Matthew Caldera capped off the scoring for the day when he ran one in from 36 yards.

Coleman finished his day 23 of 30 throwing for 368 yards and 4 touchdowns, Brown was his favorite target as he grabbed 7 receptions for 147 total yards.  Tosches also broke the 100 yard mark receiving with 4 catches for 109.  

On defense, Steven Bradshaw finished with 9 total tackles including 5 solo and 1.5 tackles for negative yardage.  Demond Young had 7 tackles while Naisir Morrow had an interception and Khamarli Jarrett and Leasau Toalepai each picked up a sack.

The Eagles are now 2-1 on the season and will travel to Santa Ana next week for a game against the Dons.  Saturday's kick off in Santa Ana is set for 6 pm.