Seven Turnovers Lead To Cougar Loss

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - The College of the Canyons football team dropped their third straight game, falling 48-30 at the hands of Desert College on Saturday night.

The Cougars gave up a season-high 307 yards on the ground and 110 yards through the air. The offense tallied 439 yards of total offense (309 yards passing).

COC trailed 20-19 at half time, but was outscored 28-11 in the second half.

First year running back Drew Phillips registered two touchdowns in the game, a 5-yard rushing score which was followed by a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

This was Phillips' second return touchdown this season, tying Raphael Reynolds', 2007 record for most kickoff return touchdowns in a season.

Freshman quarterback Ryan Kasdorf threw one touchdown pass in the game and that came in the second quarter when he threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Brandon Graves.

Kasdorf threw for 309 yards and rushed for 70 yards in the game.

Graves had five catches for 56 yards and a touchdown and sophomore wide receiver Matt Sysmanzki had five catches for a team-high 96 yards.

It was the third quarter that proved to be the difference as Desert College outscored the Cougars 28-3.

Kasdorf threw an interception on the first drive of the third quarter, which led to a Desert College touchdown. Later a fumble by sophomore running back Lance Poole led to another score for Desert College.

COC had a total of six turnovers in the second half and Desert College seemed to capitalize on most of them. Kasdorf's three interceptions in the game all came in the second half.

Freshman defensive lineman Antonio Guy led the team in tackles with six and freshman defensive end Jeremy Pyles had 1.5 sacks.

This was the Cougars second straight game where they were outplayed in the second half as last week they were outscored 34-10 by Saddleback College

The Cougars will play their first conference game of the season Saturday, Sept. 22, at Cougar Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.