September 27, 2019

COS Football vs. Santa Rosa Game Notes

COS takes on Santa Rosa this Saturday at 7pm.

GAME NOTES . . .

College of the Sequoias (2-1) vs. Santa Rosa Junior College (0-3)

Saturday, September 28, 2019—Mineral King Bowl

RECORDS: Santa Rosa has started off 0-3, with losses to Fresno (tied for 4^th in the state), Butte (7^th) and Shasta (17^th). The Giants have won two of their first three, defeating Feather River in overtime, losing at Chabot and winning last week at Siskiyous 36-16. COS is off to its best start since 2017.

SERIES: COS leads 5-4. The first game was in 1978. Sequoias won four games in a row, but Santa Rosa has won the last three, including 37-13 last season in Santa Rosa.

RANKINGS: In this week's JC Athletic Bureau state poll, the Giants are ranked 25^th in the state, and 11^th in Northern California. Santa Rosa is unranked.

COACHES: COS head coach in Joe D'Agostino, is now in his second season as head coach and sixth on the Giant staff. D'Agostino, a native of San Diego, has coached at the community college level the past 17 seasons, including stints at Reedley, West Hills and Merced Colleges. He was hired full-time at the college in January 2014. He was a Giant assistant coach for four seasons before assuming the head coach's role in November 2017. New COS assistant coaches this season are Raven Keene (defensive coordinator), Jeremy Gomez (receivers), Thomas Green (defensive backs), Ivan Espiritu (offensive line), Ardie Burton (offensive line) and Raven Keene Jr. (running backs). Santa Rosa coach Lenny Wagner is now in his 7^th year as head coach and 18^th year on the staff., with the BearCubs reaching bowl games in 14 of the previous 17 seasons. Wager, a native of Buffalo (NY), played at Fullerton College and went on to star at Sonoma State University. He was a two-time team MVP and all-conference inside linebacker. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees at SSU and was an assistant coach there from 1991-96. He was also previously the coach at Mendocino College two seasons. Wagner's record at Santa Rosa is 37-30 and overall record is 51-36.

BEAR CUBS: Santa Rosa has three returning starters on the offensive line in Luke Haggard, Jason Vallejo and Andrew Fossell. But the skill players have struggled thus far, as the BearCubs have averaged only 219 yards a game and have been under 200 in the last two. Top freshman players on offense include running back J.T. Evans and receivers James Mickens and Jorgen Sarganis. On defense there are two returning starters in linebacker Willie Maples and safety Mekai Segura. Freshman linebacker Destyn White and lineman Jquane Harris have been impressive to date. The leading receiver is Blake Thomas with 8. Running back Maceo Barbosa doubles as a kick returner and has averaged 25.4 on kickoff returns. A bright spot has been kicker Kevin Nguyen, who has made all 5 extra point attempts and kicked two field goals, including a 51-yarder against Shasta. He is also the state's fifth leading punter with a 41.0 average.

GIANTS: The Giant defense turned in a superb effort last week, forcing 5 turnovers and scoring a safety. Siskiyous gained 240 yards, but much of that came on two long plays—a 76 yard run and 71 yard touchdown pass. Aside from those the Eagles had only 93 yards the rest of the game. Siskiyous converted only 2 of 10 third downs, and the Giants dominated possession time (36:43). Defensive standouts against Siskiyous included linebacker Marcos Moran, who returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown, and linemen Corleone Peters and Noah Wright. Kicker Dominic Hernandez had his best game, hitting four extra points and kicking field goals of 31 and 35 yards. D'Agostino praised the offensive line's work in the running game as Devonte Green had a season-high 103 yards and one touchdown. The line includes center Miguel Madrigal, guards Rigo Lopez and Carlos Keil, tackles T.J. Parker, Nick Smith and Wesley Kamu; and before he was injured, center Jonathon Harmon. Quarterback Gus Villareal threw for two scores last week. For the year he has completed 48-82 passes for 627 yards and six TDs. Green has 195 yards rushing and two TDs, and also 6 receptions. The leading receivers are Bryson Allen (11 for 196, 3 touchdowns) and Sergio Pena (11 for 161, 2 TDs).

NOTES : Four other COS opponents are ranked in this week's Athletic Bureau poll. Modesto and Fresno are tied for fourth in the state, and tied for second in Northern California. Shasta is ranked 17^th in the state and eighth in NorCal, and Chabot is ranked 31^st in the state and 13^th in NorCal…Bobby Peele has intercepted a pass in each of the Giants' three games. He is tied for second in the state with several other players. With 5 interceptions last year, Peele is now inching closer to the COS career record of 13, held by Tom Roberts and Jacob Yavasile…last week's Tachi-Yokut Players of the Week were Hernandez (special teams), Green (offense) and Moran (defense).

TEAM LOGS:

Santa Rosa (0-3)

Fresno L 17-35

Butte L 13-45

Shasta L 17-24

COS (2-1)

Feather River W 30-24 OT

Chabot L 6-38

Siskiyous W 36-16

VALLEY CONFERENCE FOOTBALL STANDINGS

Non-conference games

W-L PS PA_