Mills Powers the Cougars Offense

Nothing felt right about the first four weeks of the season for the Christopher High Cougars.  Winless in the first four contests leaves a bitter taste in your mouth but a win in their first league game would erase that entirely, getting the team back on track headed into the meat of their schedule. Well, that is exactly what happened on Friday night. The Cougars rolled to a 41-19 victory over the visiting Everett Alvarez Eagles, riding their stud running back, Rayshon Mills.

Rayshon Mills was supposed to be the offense this season after being the only play-maker returning from Christopher’s Co-MBL championship team a year ago. In the first four weeks though he hadn’t lived up to the hefty expectation. That changed quickly against the Eagles, amassing 203 yards on 28 touches, scoring 4 times. Mills had his coming out party In front of a home crowd, running hard, determined, and carrying his team to its first “W” of the season.

RB Rayshon Mills

“We focused on tempo. Coach P, had a brand new philosophy we were going to run the ball, run the ball. I just had a lot of faith in my line. I knew the holes were going to be there, and they were, so I broke and did what I had to do,” Mills continued, “This week at practice we focused hard on rushing, rushing, rushing.”

Mills wasn’t alone in turning things around. First year starter, Sterling Montgomery had his best game of his varsity career (12 of 20, 136 Yds, 2 TDs), rebounding from his previous week’s performance of 33 total yards passing. More importantly, he took care of the football something he hadn’t done in his first 4 games, averaging a turnover a game. Montgomery passed with the most poise he has shown – throwing on time, in rhythm, hitting his spots - managing the team’s offensive explosion but he wasn’t about to take the credit.

QB Sterling Montgomery

“I don’t think it’s my game personally. The team had a great week of practice. We worked really hard all week, tempoing, running. The team just really came together. We the team works together like that everyone looks good. Especially, our O-line; The O-line got us this win tonight,” the cougars signal caller praised.

The defense looked polished and confident for the first time in the young campaign. (If you think you’re reading a lot of firsts, its simply because this was a “game of firsts” for the Cougars.) After giving up nearing 37 points a game, Christopher High’s defense made a statement, allowing just 19 points, piling up 4 sacks and forcing 2 fumbles. The Eagles rushing attack was shut down with the Cougar’s tenacious gang tackling, led by Jacob Moen with 16 total tackles.

CHS first victory showed the potential of how the team is capable of performing when everything falls into place and the players trust the systems. 1-4 does not look good but when that first win is in league, it can propel you into the rest of their season, seemingly a lot better then 3 games under .500. Still, the team in black and Vegas gold are 1-4 and face a very tough Palma Chieftains team, who is coming off a 15-12 win over Monterey, next. The Cougars travel to the Salinas for their match up with Palma tonight.