Game Notes: COS vs. Diablo Valley College
GAME NOTES . . .
College of the Sequoias (1-1) vs. Diablo Valley College (1-1)
Saturday, September 16, 2017—Mineral King Bowl
RECORDS: Each team is 1-1. Sequoias won its opener on the road at Contra Costa 16-14, before stumbling at home last week to Feather River 37-10. Diablo Valley lost to American River in its opener 67-0, but came from behind to beat Chabot last week 26-23, scoring on a 7-yard touchdown pass with 13 seconds remaining.
SERIES: COS leads 5-2. The first game was in the 1989 Pepsi-Sequoia Bowl in Visalia. Diablo Valley has won the last two games, including last year 44-28 in Pleasant Hill.
RANKINGS: COS is unranked this week after the Feather River loss. DVC enters the game ranked No. 21 in the state and No. 9 in Northern California by the JC Athletic Bureau.
COACHES: COS coach Irv Pankey is now in his 20th season on the Giants' staff and his fifth year as head coach. Pankey has played football at the highest levels, earning second team all-American honors as a senior at Penn State and then playing 13 seasons in the National Football League as an offensive lineman, with the Los Angeles Rams and Indianapolis Colts. He was originally hired at COS in 1998 as a physical education instructor and assistant football coach. Pankey's career record with the Giants is now 15-27. Diablo Valley coach Mike Darr is now in his 7th season as head coach, and 11th year at the school. Darr, a Concord native, played at DVC and was an all-conference performer on the 1988 championship team. He also played in the 1989 Sequoia Bowl here. He continued playing at Chico State, where he earned his bachelor's degree, and received his master's from St. Mary's College. Darr spent six seasons coaching at Los Medanos before coming to DVC. His first four years wirh the Vikings, he led them to post-season bowl appearances. His overall record at the school is 38-29. Ed Hall, who coached Diablo Valley when the Vikings played in the 1989-90 Sequoia Bowl games here, has returned to the staff as Associate Head Coach.
VIKINGS: The DVC defense has been tested in its first two games, allowing 629 yards in the lopsided loss to American River and 453 in the win over Chabot. The Vikings managed only 83 yards in their opener but had 360 last week. Freshman quarterback Matt Vitale was one of the state players of the week, completing 22-37 for 304 yards, with 4 touchdowns and no interceptions. Running back Miles Harrison, who rushed for 461 yards last year and also had 17 receptions, earned all-conference honors as a freshman. Soph receiver Dylan Alves had 25 catches for 451 yards last year. Last week, Harrison led the running game with 77 yards and freshman receiver Cameron Norfleet had 9 catches for 109 yards and 2 TDs. Punter Prominence Akubuo-Onwuemeka averaged 42.6 yards on five punts. Likely because of injury, the Vikings did not attempt an extra point last week—all were 2-point conversions. Jason Dickson, a 6-7, 309-pound sophomore, was listed in a Street & Smith's magazine pre-season junior college all-star list and has several offers from 4-year schools.
GIANTS: A week after its season-opening win on the road, the Giants followed it up with a discouraging performance against a Feather River. The Giants scored first with a Cameron Horsting field goal, but found themselves behind 37-3 in the fourth quarter before fashioning an impressive 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive capped by William Davis' 15-yard run, with a possession time of 7:55. The Giants actually outgained Feather River 319-285, but were undone by penalties and five turnovers—including 4 interceptions. Defensive standouts last week were linemen Rakeem Terry and Tyler Millender, and linebackers Elijah Alonzo and Andrew Gomez, who led the Giants with 5 tackles. Coaches were encouraged with the play of running back Dvonte Crandle, coming back from an early season injury. Despite running 77 plays to Feather River's 43 last week, COS was unable to sustain any drives (with one exception) nor threaten to score. That must change this week for a chance at victory.
NOTES : COS will be out of town the next two weeks, playing at Sierra College (1 pm) next week and at Sacramento (6 pm) in two weeks. It will be nearly a month until the next home, October 14 in the conference opener against Modesto. To accommodate the Visalia Band Review held earlier in the day, that game will begin at 7:30 pm…other Giants opponents ranked in the state this week include Fresno (10th), Sacramento (12th), Laney (16th), San Joaquin Delta (25th) and Modesto (27th)…penalties have plagued both teams thus far. Last week, COS had 16 penalties for 124 yards and Diablo Valley had 17 for 188 against Chabot…Harrison averaged 20.8 yards on kickoff returns last year...Juwan McCall led the COS receivers last week with 4 catches for 49 yards.
