By Brandon Mauk
Que Ruan Mosby is living up to his nickname—“Cucumber”—on the football field.
“We call him ‘Cucumber’ because he’s so cool,” Campus Magnet coach Eric Barnet said. “I think he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the city.”
The senior quarterback scored six touchdowns to lead Campus Magnet to a 42-20 victory over visiting Kennedy in both teams’ PSAL City Conference football opener Saturday.
Mosby racked up 250 total yards on the ground and in the air in the game, as he teamed up with running back Antwan Lewis to form a relentless rushing attack. Mosby ran for four touchdowns and threw for two. It was a great way to begin a year that the Bulldogs believe could turn into something special.
“It feels real good to start this way in the season,” Mosby said. “It shows what we can do for the rest of the season, and hopefully make it and do the same in the playoffs.“
Things didn’t start well, however. Kennedy scored on the game’s first play from scrimmage on a 40-yard touchdown run by Mario Agyen. But Campus Magnet responded with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Mosby to Bryan Mariner, who had three catches for 79 yards.
After forcing a turnover on downs at their own 37, the Bulldogs scored again on a 14-yard touchdown run by Mosby to put his team up 15-6 early in the second quarter. Campus Magnet scored 20 straight points until Kennedy posted a fourth-quarter safety and touchdown.
Kennedy quarterback P.J. Franklyn and Agyen combined for 221 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Agyen posted another long touchdown on a 39-yard rush to cut the Campus Magnet lead to 15-12 with 7:19 to go in the second quarter. Barnet expects his team to do a better job against opposing offenses.
“We want to shut people down,” he said. “So giving up [20 total] points, I’m not excited. Those are things we have to correct, so we have to figure out a way to get going with that.”
His defense made key plays right before halftime. After Mosby’s third touchdown, it forced fumbles on consecutive drives. The second led to a touchdown run by Mosby that put the Bulldogs up 27-12 at the break.
Campus Magnet put the game out of reach early in the second half, with a touchdown run by Mosby and another Kennedy turnover on downs, this time just seven yards shy of the end zone. For good measure, Mosby ran for his final score on fourth and two from the 14-yard line to provide the final margin.
“We work hard, we just had to do what we had to do,” said Justin Pierre-Louis. He caught one of Campus Magnet’s touchdown passes and helped slow down Kennedy’s offense at cornerback.
Unlike in recent years, Campus Magnet is off to a fast start and will look to carry that momentum into a Week 2 matchup with Midwood.
“It means a lot, because we didn’t win the first game for like two to three years,” Pierre-Louis said. “We’ve always had to come from behind, 0-4, 0-5. We’re 1-0 this year.”
