Football starts 2016 season with a win

VISALIA - The Giants took care of business, but it came down to the wire.

College of the Sequoias opened up their season with a win as they beat Contra Costa 55-47 at the Mineral King Bowl.

"We're a young team," head coach Irv Pankey said. "We got ahead and got complacent. We got the W that is all that matters."

Running the ball was the Giants gameplan and they did just that on Saturday. They rushed for 250 yards on 46 carries. Sophomore running back Elijah Porchia (Mission Oak) led the team in rushing as he ran for 178 yards and three touchdowns.

"Porchia is our guy," Pankey said. "He got the job done and played really well tonight."

On the first play from scrimmage for COS, Porchia took the handoff 68 yards for a touchdown.

Contra Contra quickly evened it up at 7-7 as All-Conference quarterback Cameron Burston found Tyrone Morgan on a 48 yard touchdown pass.

Javonte Farmah 34 yard touchdown run for the Giants was matched by Burston again, as he found  Harris Ross in the end zone.

Knotted up at 14, COS shut down the Comets in the second quarter. Porchia led the charge on his 26 yard touchdown scamper and the Giants put up 14 more to extend their lead 34-20 at halftime.

In the third quarter, Sequoias extended their lead to 41-21 after Burston mishandled a read option play. The fumble led to a touchdown as Thomas Wilson's pass was snagged by a leaping Sylvester Augustyn in the endzone.

Wilson passed for 216 yards with two touchdowns on 20 completions.

Sequoias started to fall asleep late in the second half as Burston kept Contra Costa in the game. Burston hit Osai Brown and Marquis Pippins on back-to-back red zone TD's. However, the Comets were still down 48-33 at the end of  the third quarter.

Contra Costa never lost their composure in the fourth as Brandon Zaunbrecher burnt the COS defense on a 47 yard TD run. That was followed up with Brown snagging his second touchdown of the game. This shorten Sequoias lead to 8 points, 55-47 with 1:38 remaining.

After a COS three and out, Burston led the Comets on a what looked like a game-tying drive. The Sophomore QB rolled out, escaped multiple defenders, and found Joshua Walker down field at the COS 31. With 24 seconds left, Burston again rolled out, but this time Giant DB Tariq Ballinger stepped in front of the wide-receiver and intercepted the ball. Ballinger ran down the field until the clock hit zero and COS hung on to beat Contra Costa 55-47.

"This game was exciting and you couldn't leave early, but I'll worry about next week tomorrow," Pankey said. "I'm going to enjoy this one first."

College of the Sequoias will travel to face Feather River next Saturday at 2 p.m.