Andrew Azua breaks a tackle vs. Chabot earlier this season.

September 13, 2018

COS vs. Siskyous Game Notes

GAME NOTES . . .

College of the Sequoias (0-2) vs. Siskiyous (0-1)

Saturday, September 15, 2018—Mineral King Bowl

RECORDS: Sequoias is 0-2, opening the year with losses to Feather River on the road (41-6) and Chabot at home (34-20). Siskiyous is 0-1, dropping its season opener to San Mateo 42-0. The Eagles' home game against Fresno last week was postponed until October 6, due to the Delta Fire.

SERIES: Sequoias leads 2-1. The first game was in the 1991 Pepsi-Sequoia Bowl in Visalia. The teams played in 2014-15. Siskiyous last year went 8-3, 4-1 in conference play, and lost to San Mateo in the Northern California semifinals.

RANKINGS: Siskiyous is ranked 22^nd in the state and 12^th in Northern California this week by the JC Athletic Bureau. The Giants are unranked.

COACHES: COS has a new head coach in Joe D'Agostino, who is now in his sixth year on the Giants staff. D'Agostino, a native of San Diego, has coached at the community college level the past 16 years, including stints at Reedley, Merced and West Hills Colleges. He was hired full-time at COS in January 2014. Siskiyous coach Charlie Roche is in his eighth year as head coach, with a record of 49-27. He has won two championships and led his team to post-season bowl appearances in five of his first seven years. Roche, a native of Eugene, Oregon, played at Siskiyous and then went on to Eastern Illinois University where he earned his bachelor's degree. His master's came from California University of Pennsylvania. He was offensive line coach at Eastern Illinois for three years, offensive coordinator at San Jose State from 2000-2005 and was Siskiyous' offensive coordinator for four years before taking over as head coach. Roche played in the 1991 Sequoia Bowl game in Visalia against the Giants.

EAGLES: Siskiyous has a veteran team with 10 returning starters, 6 on offense and 4 on defense. Returning on offense are running back Andrew Kannely-Robles, tight end Luke Fulford, fullback Beniah Greene, left tackle Chase Barthlett, right guard Pito Satele and right tackle Dedrick Jackson-Hairston. Kannely-Robles was the team's second leading rusher a year ago with 466 yards and 7 TDs. Defensive returning starters are back Kendarius Truitt, linebacker Brett Judd, and linemen Tyson Regimbal and Merinio Dendoe. A major weapon is returning all-conference kicker Kyle Sentkowski, who was 10-13 in field goals last year (longest 47) and 36-38 in extra points. The top freshman players include transfers Zaiden Hernandez and Dennis Beard (DB), Thairen Sivongsa (QB), Connor Parkerson (LB) and Whitey Sosene (DL).

GIANTS: The young Giants team is gaining experience but at the expense of being behind on the scoreboard. Still, there was significant improvemernt from the previous week. Running back Andrew Azua had perhaps his best career game, rushing for 86 yards (including a 56 yard run), catching two passes for 14 yards and punting 5 times for a 44.8 average. On defense, back Bobby Peele had a career game with two interceptions for 36 yards returned, and a forced and recovered fumble along with a 21 yards return. Other standouts on offense included Mitch Brumfield, who caught a 72-yard touchdown pass and also rushed 3 times for 18 yards; and receiver Blake Wells who caught a 40-yard TD. On defense, top players included lineman Markeese Jones (9 tackles) and linebacker Jordan Dominguez (7 stops). Quarterback Ryan Johnson was 14-27 for 198 yards and 2 TDs, and also rushed 9 times for 51 yards. He also punted once for 48 yards. Sequoias gained a respectable 379 yards last week but allowed Chabot 559, and while turnovers were cut from 4 to 1—a great improvement—there were still 10 penalties for 119 yards, showing room for improvement.

NOTES : A total of eight COS opponents are ranked statewide, including Siskiyous. Others include Fresno, 13^th in the state and 5^th in NorCal; Chabot, 15^th in the state and 6^th in NorCal; Modesto, 16^th in the state and 7^th in NorCal; Santa Rosa, 18^th and 9^th; West Hills, 19^th and 10^th; Feather River, 33^rd and 17^th; and Sacramento, 36^th and 18^th… Giants Players of the Week against Chabot were Azua (offense), Peele (defense) and Mitch Brumfield (special teams)…this is one of two Sequoias home games at 11 am, the other will be against Shasta in two weeks. Next week the Giants will play at Santa Rosa at 1 pm, a game that will be held at Santa Rosa High School.