Devin Morris (left), Carlos Orea (middle), and Amir Brown (right) listening to their coaches among other members of the Corsair football team during halftime. The Lancers won with a final score of 27-20, on September 10, 2022, at Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, Calif. (Caylo Seals | The Corsair)

Jaboree Thornton of the Corsair football team being tackled by players from Pasadena City's Lancers during a game at Santa Monica College. The Lancers won with a final score of 27-20, on September 10, 2022, at Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, Calif. (Caylo Seals | The Corsair)

The Corsair's LJ Holmes taking a moment after being tackled during a home football game against Pasadena City's Lancers. The Lancers won with a final score of 27-20, on September 10, 2022, at Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, Calif. (Caylo Seals | The Corsair)

On Saturday, Sep. 10, 2022, the Santa Monica College (SMC) football team, The Corsairs, played against the Pasadena City College (PCC) Lancers on the Corsair field for their first game of the season. The first touchdown of the game was scored by PCC early in the second quarter, with SMC running back Jaden Bridges scoring a running five yard touchdown soon after to tie up the score 6-6. But PCC quickly took the lead back, resulting in a score of 13-6 by the end of the second quarter, ending the scoring for the first half altogether.

The only offensive production to come out of the third quarter was PCC tacking on another touchdown, making the score 19-6 heading into the fourth quarter. Quarterback Forrest Brock threw two passing touchdowns to wide receivers Jaboree Thornto and Everson Bozeman. PCC managed to get a touchdown in the fourth quarter that kept them ahead, ending the game with a score of 27-20.

Head Coach Kelly Ledwith praised his team for performing well, but said that ultimately too many small mistakes cost them the win.“We had offensive production, we had some attacks in defensive plays that I thought were really good, we had some big special teams plays,” Ledwith said. “But we were playing our first game of the season, and they were playing their second.”

Offensive lineman and tight end Ameer Dalbik felt that even though SMC lost, he feels good about the future of the season. He remarked that the biggest improvement for football teams is between weeks one and two. “For only being in our first game I thought we played really well against a team that is pretty good, and had two weeks,” he said.

Though Saturday’s game was the first real match-up for the Corsairs, the first game of the season was supposed to be against the El Camino College (ECC) Warriors on Saturday, Sep. 3. Several offensive and defensive players had sustained injuries during training, with at least four players waiting on MRIs to determine if they could play the season at all. In addition to Coach Ledwith being hospitalized on the Thursday prior, ultimately the game was canceled to prevent any more possible player injuries.

According to Ledwith, the team was devastated, being that many players had been putting in countless hours of work into preparing for the game. “A lot of these guys have been putting in the work since February, you know, and it was seven, eight months of work,” Ledwith said. “It's always built towards that first game. And it didn’t happen.”

“We thought it would be best to cancel one game instead of hurting people for 10 games,” Dalbik said.

The game being canceled effectively cost the Corsairs 10 percent of the season. Fortunately, The Corsairs will be able to make up the game against the Warriors at ECC on Oct. 8 at 6 p.m.

Despite last Saturday’s loss, the Corsairs fought hard, giving their all for a game that will hopefully start a successful season. “It felt good to get out and play this week, and I know our guys were excited to play there,” Ledwith said. Even though the result was less than ideal, the Corsairs are excited to continue the rest of the season and look forward to the future games. The next game is Saturday, Sep. 17 at Compton College.

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