The Colts Wallop the Wolverines

Defense is productive, Sula runs wild, and Dotson returns a kickoff, as the Colts win 31-15 Friday night.

By G. Allen
Carson Colts Staff Writer

On a balmy Friday night, as the Carson Colts headed north to play Harvard Westlake, Coach Christensen was not nervous at all. You see, he had already found the key to a sure victory: apples. Tart green apples to be exact.

"I went online and did some research on training horses," stated Carson's second year head coach, Michael Christensen. "I discovered that in order to get a real-life colt to approach you and do as you want, you need to offer it green apples. The tarter, the better," said Christensen.

Then he put that knowledge to good use. On the ride up to the game, Christensen sounded like a narrator from the Discovery channel, as he disseminated his newly acquired knowledge. He then proceeded to give each player, and coach a tart green apple from a basket that his wife had prepared the night before. The tag on the basket, which was created by his son Spencer, read: "WE ARE CARSON".

"This was reminiscent to last year, when he called a Churchill Downs horse-trainer, and had all the kids eat sugar cubes before the Bishop [Amat] game, based on the information he had gleaned," stated assistant coach Robert Hernandez. Last year, that led to the Colts' first victory ever against Bishop Amat on their home field, and it seemed to work tonight against the Wolverines. "Such is the genius of Christensen," stated offensive line coach Carlos Ruiz. "The guy is always finding new ways to get these boys going." "He never sleeps, he's like a machine; a mad scientist even," Ruiz went on to say. The apples must have worked, because the Colts scored on their second drive, and never trailed after that.

There were many positives to last night's game, starting with the much improved play of the offensive line, and zero turnovers by the offense. Senior RB Jack Sula, junior RB Kevin Lane, and senior FB Mike Cortez, ran hard, enjoyed the result of a productive week of practice from the o-line. Also on the offensive side, senior WR Keenan Smith made several clutch catches, to keep key drives alive.

Special teams/DB's coach, Kevin Nickerson also saw results from a week of refocused efforts. Junior utility man, Austin Dotson had an electrifying 90 yard kickoff return, for a game breaking special teams score.

Although it gave up 15 points, Carson's defense was efficient too. It produced a nice goal-line stand, forced several three and outs, and got an interception by senior safety, Jeff Mueller.

Carson rebounded well as a team, after a tough loss to a defensively astute Long Beach Poly. This bodes well for the Colts, as one of their mantras is to get better every week. They'll need to continue getting better if they hope to repeat the magic of last year, and defeat Bishop Amat, when they play them in Carson next week.

All in all, the Colts were just too much for the Wolverines as they won 31-15, last night in North Hollywood. With the win, the Colts bring their record to 2-2, and avenged their shocking '06 loss to Harvard-Westlake at the Home Depot Center. So, how do you like THEM apples?