Giants football falls to Modesto; seeks bowl-eligibility win at Contra Costa

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

College of the Sequoias' hopes for playing bonus football -- and all the benefits that come with it -- will be decided during its regular season finale.

That's because the Giants failed to gain bowl eligibility during a 42-28 loss to JC Athletic Bureau state No. 11-ranked Modesto during a Valley Conference game Nov. 4 at Sequoias Stadium.

Sequoias fell to 4-5 overall and 1-3 in conference play. A .500 overall record is needed to be eligible for a California Community College Athletic Association postseason bowl game, which the program has been selected for in each of the past three championship seasons.

So the Giants will need a victory at Contra Costa (5-4, 0-4) on Nov. 11 to become bowl eligible. Kickoff is scheduled for noon from the San Pablo-based college.

"Win and get in," Giants coach Travis Burkett said. "There is a lot to play for."

That's because it would give Sequoias' transfer eligible sophomores 10 more practices and one more game for four-year university recruiters to evaluate. And provide Burkett and staff more opportunity to develop the returning and redshirting freshmen.

"Ten more lifting days for the non-active guys. Ten more days to find out about the guys who are coming back," Burkett said. "In a way different way than (NCAA) Division I is for the NFL, because guys are pursuing degrees and wanting to develop as people, what we do here at community college in terms of placing guys at NAIA, DIII, DII, IAA, 1A, tiers of 1A, the extra game and extra practices, that's 10 more practices for coaches to come watch them play during recruiting time. That's a game to watch in person. That's a good opponent we would be going against that they are evaluating their tape against. You can't put a price on that. Getting another game is almost immeasurable."

The Giants are facing a make or break game against Contra Costa because they were unable to slow down conference co-leading Modesto (6-3, 4-0), which rolled to its fourth straight win.

The Pirates (6-3, 4-0) took control in the second quarter and were never seriously threatened.

Modesto went into halftime with a 28-7 lead after getting a 2-yard touchdown run from Kimoni Stanley, a 6-yard touchdown pass from Luke Weaver to Joey Stout, a 50-yard touchdown pass from Weaver to Joseph Easterwo and a 1-yard touchdown run from Lyon Colon.

"We did not play well at all when it mattered," Burkett said. "In the first half, we did not play our best when our best was needed." 

The Pirates scored on their first possession of the third quarter, a 5-yard touchdown run by Colon, to build a 35-7 lead.

Sequoias forced a fumble on Modesto's next possession, with Will Henderson (Immanuel High-Reedley) recovering to set up a 38-yard touchdown pass from Clark Coleman (Vancouver, Wash.) to Tae Marks (Vancouver, Wash.) that cut the deficit to 35-14 with 3 minutes and 31 seconds to play in the third quarter.

Giants kicker Kurt Kawamoto (Honolulu, Hawaii) then delivered a well executed onsides kick that My'Quel Johnson (Las Vegas) scooped up to give Sequoias a chance to make it a two-score game.

But Max Rascon intercepted a Coleman pass at the Modesto 3-yard line to deny the Giants points.

Sequoias appeared to get the football right back when Jaylon Brown (Chandler, Ariz.) intercepted a Weaver pass, but he was called for pass interference, nullifying the play. The Pirates scored four plays laters on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Weaver to Jose Guizar to open a 42-14 lead with 7:39 remaining in the game. The drive was extended when Sequoias was flagged for roughing the passer on a third down sack.

"We don't perform for whatever reason," Burkett said. "We don't quit. And we always fight. And we're tough and gritty, but we still don't play smart. We have not found a way to get that right. And that's a real reflection on me. I'm trying. We're trying hard. We'll keep coaching and keep teaching, but the lessons still keep popping up for whatever reason. So we have to keep working."

The Giants received a 29-yard touchdown run by Cam Hemzacek (Corvallis, Ore.) and a 49-yard scoring pass from Coleman to Noah Williams (McKinney, Texas) to make the final score respectable while losing for the third time in the past four games.

"Those flashes of brilliance that we saw in crawling back in the game, those need to be when it's 0-0, or 7-7, or 14-7 and we're down seven points," Burkett said. "And they can be, but for whatever reason, we think the other team is just going to let us do it."

Sequoias allowed Modesto to amass 460 yards of offense, averaging 6.1 yards per play. Weaver threw for 268 yards while completing 23 of his 28 passes. The Pirates also rushed for 192 yards, led by a 17-carry, 70-yard performance by returning all-conference running back Stanley.

"I can't say enough about the effort that the staff and players are putting in," Burkett said. "There is not a lack of effort. There is not a lack of detail. There is a severe lack of precision and execution. ... I think specifically defensively, playing an option team, we did not bring our training and our game plan to bear. We got rolled. And we're not supposed to get rolled because we have a plan for that. We were imprecise a lot. A lot of it was unforced errors." 

The Giants' first score of the game, a 39-yard pass from Coleman to A.J. Dixson (Vancouver, Wash.) in the second quarter, was set up when Mark Melanson (Las Vegas) threw a 22-yard fake punt pass to Alex Herrera (Linden) to convert a fourth-and-8 play. 

Sequoias now turns its attention toward extending its season.

"The guys in this locker room need to wake up with me and move forward, beat Contra Costa and go 1-0 against them and go win a bowl game," Burkett said. "And when you win a bowl game, you're a champion. That's what we're going to try and do."