September 15, 2023

COS vs. Delta Game Notes

COS hosts Delta on Saturday 9/16

GAME NOTES . . .

College of the Sequoias (0-2) vs. San Joaquin Delta College (0-2)

Saturday, September 16, 2023—Sequoias Stadium

SEQUOIAS STADIUM: The Giants will be playing their second game in the newly constructed stadium. Several hundred seats were not installed by the opening but today the stadium should be available for full capacity. A crowd of 1,850 attended the opener vs. Butte.

RECORDS: Both teams have lost their first two games. COS played Butte even and lost in overtime 23-20, and fell last week to defending state champion San Mateo 49-21. Delta has lost two close games, 24-17 to Contra Costa, and last week 45-38 to Shasta. Contra Costa scored in the last 4:32 to win the game and Shasta scored with just 2:57 left to edge the Mustangs. Delta has now lost 21 of its last 23 games.

SERIES: COS leads 27-16. The first game was in 1954. The teams played every year from 1962-79 in the old Valley Conference. More recently, Delta was a member of the same league as COS but switched to the Bay 6 Conference two years ago. The teams have now played every year since 2002. Sequoias has won the last four meetings, including 45-17 last year.

RANKINGS: Despite losing its first two, the strength of its schedule has kept the Giants ranked No. 25 in the state in this week's JC Athletic Bureau rankings. Sequoias is ranked 10^th in Northern California. The Mustangs are not ranked.

COACHES: COS head coach Travis Burkett is now in his fourth season, having been hired in April of 2020. His career record at COS is 12-14. Burkett has 15 prior seasons as an assistant at the Division 1 level, most recently as the running backs coach at Nevada-Las Vegas. He was also an assistant at Cornell for 10 seasons. Travis starred at San Luis Obispo High before advancing to St. Mary's College on scholarship, where he earned a degree in history. Burkett is the 22^nd head coach in COS history. Delta coach Gary Barlow, one of the longest-tenured in the state, is now in his 23^rd season, with a career record of 104-119. Barlow is from Tracy and played at Delta in 1987, also playing at Wyoming and University of the Pacific. He was a Mustang assistant in 1990-91 and also coached at Los Angeles Valley College before returning to Delta in 1999 as offensive coordinator. He became head coach in 2001. Under Barlow, Delta appeared in post-season bowl games 11 of his first 12 seasons. He has won three championships.

MUSTANGS: The Mustangs have some players worth watching, led by sophomore inside linebacker GKoby Wynn. He has averaged 9.5 tackles per game and has two sacks, and leads the state in tackles for loss with 8. Others on defense to watch include linebacker Rex Hermano (6.5 tackles, 2 TFL) and defensive back Elliott Grigsby (8.5 tackles, 1 interception). The leading returnee on offense is Devyon Coleman, who was the team's second leading receiver last year with 31 catches. This year he has 9 catches for 220 yards with 3 TDs. Delta has been playing two quarterbacks, as Kenyon Nelson does a lot of running (72 yard TD run vs. Shasta). He has 118 yards and 3 TDs thus far. Nick Coronado had two touchdown passes last week. Sophomore Adrian Melesio handles the kicking. He is 3-3 in field goals (two last week) and 4-7 on extra points. Melesio averages 28.5 yards on punts.

GIANTS: The Giants made it interesting last week for a while. After Richie Diaz blocked a punt and Nick Nelson returned it 19 yards for a score, COS was within 21-14 in the early third quarter. San Mateo then scored three times to put the game out of reach. Standouts on defense included linebacker Caleb Chennault (9 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack), linemen Rhett Sarvela and Hayden Scott, and defensive backs Xavier Hailey and Jah'mere La'sane. Sequoias got its first two interceptions of the season, with My'Quel Johnson returning one for 19 yards and Juan Rodriguez one for 37. Offensive lineman Abel Barajas was also a standout. Giants have had trouble running the ball—62 yards in two games—and will look to improve in that area. Reilly Garcia played the entire Butte game at quarterback and started last week, but Clark Coleman saw action in the last quarter. Alex Herrera and Tae Marks have been the top receivers thus far, each with 5 catches. Kicker Kurt Kawamoto has been perfect so far, going 2-2 in field goals and 5-5 in extra points. Punter Mike Melanson had a strong game last week, averaging 38.9 yards on 7 punts.

NOTES: Six COS opponents are ranked in the state top 25 this week. They include #1 San Mateo, #6 Butte (3^rd in NorCal), #10 Modesto (5^th), #16 Reedley (7^th), #19 Contra Costa (8^th) and #20 Fresno (9^th)…COS will be on the road next week, with a 6 p.m. game at Shasta College. Next home game will be in two weeks, as it hosts Diablo Valley at 11 a.m.

Team Logs:

Delta (0-2)

17 Contra Costa 24

38 Shasta 45

COS (0-2)
20 Butte 23 OT

21 San Mateo 49

2023 VALLEY CONFERENCE FOOTBALL STANDINGS (non-conference games)

W-L PS PA_

Contra Costa 2-0 69 31

Modesto 2-0 85 57

Reedley 2-0 69 47

Fresno 1-1 46 41