When Domenic Betts breaks through a hole up the middle, or turns the corner on pursuing defenders, there are indications that the geometry of the game will interrupt his path to progress.
Just then, it seems, Betts accelerates, sparking the ignition on the kind of speed that has seldom, if ever, been seen in an Orange Coast College football uniform. It's this rare burst that distorts the typically successful triangulation of would-be tacklers and catapults the 5-foot-10, 195-pound freshman running back ahead of all who threaten to chase him down.
Three years removed from his last season — his senior campaign at Banning High in 2008 — Betts, 20, strives to outrun more than defenders. He is also sprinting away from a past that nearly put the brakes on his dream of playing football in college and, perhaps, beyond.
"I'm looking to score," Betts said of his foremost thought on every carry. "Whatever way I can score, however I can do it, I'm looking to score."