The Fresno City College football team displayed teamwork, resiliency, and athleticism in the first game of the season Sept. 2. The Rams dominated the West Hills Coalinga Falcons and came away with a 30-6 victory at Ratcliffe Stadium Saturday night.

West Hills Coalinga struck first on the scoreboard. They scored their only touchdown within the first 45 seconds of the game as freshman running back Cameron Boyd carried the ball from 12 yards out. West Hills then failed to convert the extra point.

It was also a rough start for the Rams. They dropped passes and caused a few penalties that reversed touchdowns. The Rams had three touchdowns called back due to holding penalties. “We knew we were going to make mistakes, we have a lot of freshman on the team,” said sophomore wide receiver Tim Brown. Going into halftime, the Rams led 9-6.

The defensive line had multiple stops by sophomores defensive back Taijuan Martin with five tackles, defensive lineman Ioane Sagapolu with four tackles, left back Nathaniel Palomino with a quarterback sack, and left back Kyle Staples lead the defense with seven tackles.

Brown said, “The first half of the game was rough, but once we came together in the second half, everything started clicking.”

Freshman starting quarterback Michael Baker ran the ball for first downs and scored the final touchdown of the game. Baker racked up 15 completions, 172 yards and two touchdowns by the end of the game.

“We expected to go out there and execute plays that were scripted and win,” said Baker. “We had all week to prepare to achieve the goal and we did.”

Baker had help in the scoring department thanks to sophomore running backs James Holland with 108 yards and Larry Overstreet with 42 yards and one touchdown each.

“I just wanted them to play as hard as they could,” said FCC head coach Tony Caviglia. “I was very impressed; impressed with the effort. We played physical football, we played hard football. I am happy with how we finished.