COS Football Game Notes: COS vs. Santa Rosa
GAME NOTES . . .
College of the Sequoias vs. Santa Rosa Junior College
Saturday, October 3, 2015—Mineral King Bowl
RECORDS: Sequoias is off to a 4-0 start while Santa Rosa is 2-2.
LAST GAME: The Giant defense thoroughly dominated DeAnza last week, holding the Dons to two field goals in a 28-6 win. Sequoias allowed only 6 yards rushing and forced 5 turnovers. Santa Rosa fell to Laney 31-20 on the road. Of the Bear Cubs' 345 total yards, 301 came by passing. SRJC completed only 19 of 55 passes, with 4 interceptions, and had 6 total turnovers.
SERIES: COS leads 5-2. The first game was in 1978. The schools played from 1990-93 and resumed the series last year, with Santa Rosa winning at home 28-3. The Bear Cubs are making their first appearance in Visalia since 1993.
RANKINGS: COS moved up two notches in this week's state rankings by the JC Athletic Bureau, to No. 6 in the state and No.2 in Northern California (San Mateo is No. 1). Santa Rosa is ranked 31st in the state and 14th in NorCal. Sequoias made a huge jump in the national rankings this week, from 44th to 13th in the nation by the JC Gridiron.
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 10-13. SRJC coach Lenny Wagner is now in his 3rd season as head coach and 14th year on the staff, with Santa Rosa reaching bowl games 12 of those seasons. His record is 15-11. Wagner, a native of Buffal (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. Wagner earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at SSU, and was on the staff there as an assistant coach from 1991-96. He was also previously the head coach at Mendocino College two seasons, going 9-2 with a championship the second year. Overall JC coaching record: 30-17.
BEAR CUBS: Santa Rosa has a young team, with only one returning starter on offense (lineman Thomas Carrell) and two on defense (linebacker Ethan Rosselli and back Natu Hezchias). Part time starters returning on offense are receivers Brandon Singh and Dominic Drew. The top freshmen are Kerr Johnson, the team's leading receiver with 20 catches for 444 yards, a spectacular 22.2 average per catch, with 5 TDs; and running back Ja'Narrick James, the leading rusher with 278 yards. In the last two games, Johnson has 6 catches for 165 yards vs. Sacramento and 8 for 186 against Laney. LaRenzo Sterling is the second leading receiver with 17 grabs and Johnson has 16. QB Vincent Jeffries has thrown for 912 yards and 7 TDs. His best game was against Sacramento, with 424 yards and 4 touchdowns. On defense, lineman A.J. Davison was a part time starter. The top freshmen are twins, Keilan and Keith Benjamin, both defensive backs; and lineman Presley Piliati.
GIANTS: The Giants' running game flourished again last week and led to another win. COS rushed for 273 yards, as Jeremiah Johnson gained 101 and Devon Calhoun 98, and they accounted for 3 TDs. Brian Chester will get the start at QB this week, although Javin Kilgo will also play. There were several standouts last week defensively, led by lineman Lincoln Toulimasealii who had 9 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss. Others included Mark Meynisse, with 2 interceptions in his first college start at DB; Daris Dallas, who had 6 tackles and 1 pass breakup; and Paul Manus, who had a 55 yard return on a fumble (it would have been a TD but a penalty negated the score). Freshman Kevin Hayes also had an interception. COS gained 389 yards last week and allowed 210. Freshman defensive lineman Justin Wright, expected to be one of the top defensive players, saw his first action last week after being medically cleared to play.
NOTES: COS' 4-0 start its best since 2013, when the Giants went 5-0 to start the season...all five Valley Conference opponents are ranked in the state's top 20 this week. Modesto is 7th, Laney 11th, Fresno 15th, Chabot 18th and San Joaquin Delta 20th. Modesto is ranked 9th nationally, Delta 26th, Laney 49th and Fresno 60th...both teams are off next week, and will open conference play Oct. 17. Sequoias will open at Modesto...when growing up in Southern California, Wagner used to attend practices at training camp where Pankey played for the Los Angeles Rams.
TEAM LOGS:
Santa Rosa (2-2)
Delta L 17-27
Butte W 23-20
Sacramento W 30-29
Laney L 20-31
COS (4-0)
Foothill W 33-16
Feather River W 53-21
Siskiyous W 36-29
DeAnza W 28- 6
VALLEY CONFERENCE STANDINGS
(non-conference games)
W-L PS PA
COS 4-0 150 72
Laney 3-1 97 89
Modesto 3-1 148 115
Chabot 2-2 131 86
Delta 2-2 117 127
Fresno 2-2 134 131
GAMES SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3
San Joaquin Delta @ Butte, 1 pm
Laney @ DeAnza, 1 pm
Santa Rosa @ COS, 5 pm
San Francisco @ Modesto, 6 pm
Sacramento @ Chabot, 6 pm
Fresno @ Reedley, 6 pm
All teams have a bye Saturday, October 10
GAMES SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17
Chabot @ San Joaquin Delta, 1 pm
COS @ Modesto, 6 pm
Laney @ Fresno, 6 pm