COS Football Game Notes: Saturday September 12th vs. Feather River
GAME NOTES . . .
College of the Sequoias vs. Feather River College
Saturday, September 12, 2015—Mineral King Bowl
RECORDS: Sequoias is 1-0 while Feather is 0-1.
LAST GAME: The Giants built a 24-0 lead before Foothill kicked a field goal to end the half, and the Owls scored on the last play of the game after the officials granted them an excess time out without penalty. Other than that, it was all Giants as Sequoias won 33-16. Statistics from the game are unavailable since Foothill, as the home team, was supposed to have provided a statistician but did not do so. Feather River lost its home opener to Diablo Valley 45-14, falling behind 45-0 before scoring twice in the last 7 minutes. The Eagles gave up 453 yards.
SERIES: COS leads 2-1. The first game was in 2008. Feather River won 45-41 last year in Quincy.
RANKINGS: The Giants are ranked 26th in the state and 13th in Northern California, in this week's JC Athletic Bureau state poll. It is the first time they have been ranked in the past two seasons. Feather River is unranked.
COACHES: COS coach Irv Pankey is now in his 18th season on the Giants' staff and his third 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 8-13. Lance Brooks, Eric Johnson and Gabe Giannandrea, who had been on the Giant staff in the past, return in 2015. New assistant coaches include Patrick Kane (linebackers), Trevor Robinson (defensive backs) and former COS player Casey Glenn (receivers). FRC coach Scott Brade is in his first season as Eagles' coach but has a wide and extensive coaching background. Brade, a Michigan native, attended Alma College and earned a master's degree from Western Michigan University. Prior coaching experience included stops at State University of New York/Canton, Citrus College (two seasons), Rainey River (Minn.) Community College, St. Joseph's College (Indiana), Louisburg (North Carolina) College, and Morrisville State University (NY). He was hired in January of this year to take over the FRC program.
EAGLES: Most of Feather River's offense last week was generated by the passing game, as 292 of their 374 yards were by air. They threw 53 passes but had 3 interceptions and 4 total turnovers. The Eagles suffered a setback as starting QB T.J. Menning suffered a broken collarbone late in the 3rd quarter and will be out several weeks. Tonio Burton, who earned all-conference honors a year ago after rushing for 751 yards and 9 touchdowns, did not play last week. Returning starters are lineman Darren Cantone and receivers Benjamin Hatch and Kai Roberts, who caught 10 passes for 88 yards last week. Top freshmen are tight end Carlton Stamp (5 catches last week), receiver Ulysses Cannon and backs Dorian Cowart, Zane Brown and Daniel Lindsey. Returning starters on defense are DBs Chalres Hicks and Dimitri Butts, linebacker B.J. Wilhelm-Ioane, and linemen Juan Romero and Javon Washington. Brade listed his top freshmen as backs Houston Barnes, J.T. Davis and Aaron Brown; linebackers Isadore Wood and Josh Miller, and linemen Daniel Byse, Savaughn Brown, Devin Soares and Miguel Rojo.
GIANTS: The strength of the Giant team figures to be its defense, with seven players returning who either started or played a lot as freshmen. Starters back include free safety Robert Jackson, corners Daris Dallas and Jakob Hasten-Stevens, and linemen Deshante Lloyd and Ben Johnston. In addition, linemen Armon Hunter and Ryan Leasure saw a lot of action in reserve roles. The top freshmen include corner Kevin Hayes, defensive end Lincoln Toulimasealii, and linebacker Davonte Jones. Soph transfer Dawayne Pruitt (LB) had 15 tackles and 2 tackles for loss last week. Other standouts included Paul Manus (9 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TFL, 1 forced fumble), Ben Johnston (7 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL) and Hasten-Stevens (9 stops). The returning starters on offense include receiver Jordan Arnold (11 receptions last year), lineman Maleek Brown, and Tyree Simmons, a defensive line starter switched to offense. Top freshmen include lineman Bronson Espinoza and slotback Elijah Porchia (both injured last year), receivers Jewison Dawkins and Jeremy Lewis, and running back Jeremiah Johnson. The QB is transfer Javin Kilgo. COS is expected to run the ball a lot more than in previous seasons.
NOTES: This is the first of 5 COS home games, and the only one in the afternoon…the Giants will host DeAnza and Santa Rosa at 5 p.m., and home games against Chabot and Delta will be at 7 o'clock…the Valley Conference had a historic showing in the season's first week as all six schools posted victories. Included were Chabot's victory over perennial NorCal power Butte, San Joaquin Delta's upset of Santa Rosa, and Modesto's lopsided win over usual NorCal heavy American River…next week the Giants will play at Siskiyous, and in two weeks will host DeAnza...COS broke a 7-game losing streak with its win over Foothill...COS kicker Ruben Chavez went 4-4 on extra points last week and kicked a 32-yard field goal...the Giants' four remaining non-conference opponents all lost their season openers.
VALLEY CONFERENCE STANDINGS
(non-conference games)
W-L PS PA
COS 1-0 33 16
Chabot 1-0 30 09
Delta 1-0 27 17
Fresno 1-0 30 20
Laney 1-0 21 13
Modesto 1-0 41 10
Results from Saturday, September 5
COS 33, Foothill 16
Fresno 30, DeAnza 20
Modesto 41, American River 10
San Joaquin Delta 27, Santa Rosa 17
Chabot 30, Butte 9
Laney 21, Sacramento 13
GAMES SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
Chabot @ Diablo Valley (Fri. Sept. 11)
Feather River @ COS, 1 pm
Laney @ San Francisco, 1 pm
Siskiyous @ Delta, 1 pm
Modesto @ San Mateo, 1 pm
Sierra @ Fresno, 5 pm
GAMES SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
COS @ Siskiyous, 1 pm
Laney @ Sierra, 1 pm
Diablo Valley @ Modesto, 6 pm
San Francisco @ Fresno, 6 pm
Delta @ American River, 6 pm
Foothill @ Chabot, 6:30 pm