Giants football falls to FCC in Valley Conference opener

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

Keanu Kuma denied a dramatic comeback bid by College of the Sequoias' football team during its Valley Conference opener against rival Fresno City.

Kuma intercepted a pass at the 3-yard line in the closing seconds to preserve the Rams' 31-28 victory over the Giants on Sept. 14 before an announced crowd of 1,922 at Sequoias Stadium.

Down three points, Sequoias (3-3 overall, 0-1 Valley Conference) marched 67 yards in eight plays -- highlighted by a 21-yard scramble from Reilly Garcia (Gilbert, Ariz.) and a 29-yard pass from Garcia to Wailoa Manuel (Honolulu, Hawaii) -- down to the Fresno City 8-yard line, well within field goal range for Giants' kicker Kurt Kawamoto (Honolulu).

But Kuma intercepted a second-down pass and returned it to the Rams' 25 with 13 seconds remaining in the game. One kneel down by Fresno City quarterback Alec Trujillo later, the Rams (3-3, 1-0) had their 12th straight win over the Giants and improved their lead in a series that dates to 1948 to 48-27-3.

The Giants had a three-game winning streak, their longest since 2015, snapped.

"How we can get this great group of guys that we have with great character, and a fantastic staff doing a lot of good things in terms of the preparation aspect, to play consistent winning football," Sequoias coach Travis Burkett said. "Because right now through six games, we're still not. Not enough."

Sequoias, which entered the game ranked No. 16 in the state by the JC Athletic Bureau and No. 21 by the California Community College Sports Information Association, rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half.

Cole Dias (Kingsburg High) helped cap the comeback when he recovered a fumbled punt in the end zone with 4 minutes and 51 seconds left. Giants punter Mark Melanson (Las Vegas) delivered a high, end over end kick that Fresno City's Josiah Ayon mishandled. The Giants then converted a two-point conversion -- on a pass from Garcia to Noah Williams (McKinney, Texas) -- to tie the score 28-28.

"That was a big time football play," Burkett said. "Just like anything, there was no luck involved in that. That's guys being in-tune to the situation and doing what we coach them to do." 

The Rams, however, responded with a 10-play, 44-yard drive that culminated in Johnny Enriquez' 40-yard field goal with 55 seconds left.

Despite out-producing Fresno City in nearly every statistical category, Sequoias was done in by its own mistakes.

"We have a lot of respect for that football team," Burkett said. "At the end of the day, the bottom line is this. They played winning football, and you don't have to be a football expert to have watched that game and know we played terrible in spurts. That's no disrespect to our opponent. That's all the respect in the world to our opponent." 

In addition to the game-sealing interception, the Giants threw another one on the game's third play from scrimmage at their own 13. Zavier Ali scored on an 11-yard run on the very next play for a 7-0 Fresno City lead. 

Sequoias would go ahead 10-7 on a 12-yard scoring pass from Garcia to John Friend (Pearland, Texas) in the first quarter and a 23-yard Kawamoto field goal in the second.

Fresno City regained the lead 14-10 on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Trujillo, who started his prep career at Exeter High before transferring to San Joaquin Memorial, to Velltray Jefferson.

The Giants closed to 14-13 on a 28-yard Kawamoto field goal with 2:09 to play in the second but couldn't keep the Rams out of the end zone before halftime.

After failing to pick up a first down or run out the clock on a possession deep in its own territory, Sequoias gave up a 28-yard punt return to Ayon to put Fresno City in scoring position. And on a third-and-20 play, Jefferson got behind the Giants' defense to haul in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Trujillo to put the Rams up 21-13.

Fresno City extended the lead to 28-13 early in the third quarter Ali scored on a 12-yard run one play after a Sequoias fumble.

"Is that a good football team that played well that we lost to? Yeah, absolutely," Burkett said. "Are those giveaways in bad situations? Yeah, I think any rational objective observation would say those weren't elite takeaways necessarily. We had some giveaways. And we've got to get out of that business."

The Giants closed to 28-20 with 2:07 to play in the third quarter on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Garcia to Alex Herrerz (Linden).

Sequoias picked up more first downs (25-15), had more total offense (413-227) passed for more yards (181-116) rushed for more yards (232-111), had more quarterback sacks (3-0), ran more plays (79-45), averaged more yards per play (5.2-5.0) and enjoyed the edge in time of possession (37:41-22:19), but made four trips into Fresno City territory that produced no points.

The Giants also received a blocked field goal by Taaj Andrews (Boston, Mass.) that kept points off the scoreboard.

"When you look at our film, there are lapses in focus and concentration that are inexcusable," Burkett said. "And that falls in one spot. It's the thumb right in my chest in the spot where my heart is. We have to figure out how to connect the dots for our players so we can help them play winning football and not have those lapses."

Sequoias resumes Valley Conference at 2 p.m. Oct. 21 when it plays at Reedley. The state No. 13 Tigers (5-1, 1-0) topped Contra Costa 31-21 on Oct. 14.

The Giants' next home game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Nov. 4 against Modesto (3-3, 1-0).