Game Notes: COS vs. DeAnza
GAME NOTES . . .
College of the Sequoias vs. DeAnza College
Saturday, September 26, 2015—Mineral King Bowl
RECORDS: Sequoias is off to a 3-0 start while DeAnza is 1-2.
LAST GAME: DeAnza, after losing their first two games, broke through with a 40-7 home win over Feather River last week. COS scored twice in the last 10 minutes of the game and came from behind to defeat Siskiyous 36-29. Siskiyous had taken a 29-23 lead in the early fourth quarter. Despite the 65 points, it was more a defensive game than offensive as the Giants gained 319 yards and the Eagles 303.
SERIES: COS leads 6-5. The first game was in 1980, as the schools played from 1980-85. This is the fourth year in a row the teams have met, and the first time in Visalia since 2012. COS won last year in Cupetino 16-13, scoring the winning touchdown with 22 seconds left. DeAnza's 49-yard field goal as time expired, to tie the game, bounced off the left crossbar.
RANKINGS: COS moved up 10 spots in this week's JC Athletic Bureau state rankings, to No. 8 in the state. Giants are also ranked 4th in Northern California. COS also cracked the national rankings this week for the first time since 2013, as it is ranked No. 44 nationally by the JC Gridiron. DeAnza is unranked.
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. DeAnza coach Dan Atencio is now in his ninth season and has a record of 44-42. He led the Dons into post-season bowl games from 2009-12, and after a 3-7 record his first year in 2007, posted five consecutive winning seasons (championship in 2010). Atencio, a Bay Area native, has extensive coaching experience at the four-year college level with stops at San Francisco State, Cal-Berkeley, Santa Clara and Cal Poly/San Luis Obispo. He formerly coached at Gavilan College for seven years, three as head coach, before moving to DeAnza.
DONS: DeAnza's strength is in its defense as the Dons return 7 starters. They include linebackers Joe Kaufusi, Edwin Campbell and Elijah Mosley; defensive ends Sione Aonga, Alejandro Orozco and Ethan Stanton; and nose guard Isaiah Alapai. The top freshmen are defensive end Emeka Ndoh and linebacker Mathias Iafeta, who had two interceptions and two deflected passes last week. Iafeta also had strong games against Fresno (12 tackles, 1 tackle for loss) and American River (9 tackles). Returning starters on offense include linemen Trevor Patton, Masi Tunoa and Faleu Fatu, and receiver Rodney McKenzie. McKenzie had 6 catches against Fresno and 8 for 96 yards against American River. The top freshmen have been linemen Josh Tui and Deshawn Bamberg.
GIANTS: COS did not play as well offensively last week as against Siskiyous. Two weeks ago, Sequoias rushed a single game-record 70 times and gained 350 yards, the most in about 10 years for a Giant team. Jeremiah Johnson and Devon Calhoun both gained over 100. Praise should go to the offensive line of Tyree Simmons, Maleek Brown, Bronson Espinoza, Wesley Stevenson and Jake Vela. Last week, Sequoias threw 38 passes—twice as many as against Feather River—and gained 319 yards as opposed to nearly 600 the week before. Calhoun did score 3 touchdowns last week. The goal this week will be to establish the running game again and let the defense do its work. The defense allowed Siskiyous 303 yards and forced 4 turnovers, including Paul Manus' 34-yard fumble return for a TD. DaeShawn Durham had a monster game against Siskiyous with 11 tackles, 5 TFL, 1sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Dawayne Pruitt had 12 tackles and 2 TFL; Manus 11 stops, 1.5 TFL, a pass breakup and the fumble return; Kawan Pete 10 tackles; and Daris Dallas 6 tackles, 1 sack and 1 TFL.
NOTES: Reflecting the success of Valley Conference teams thus far, five of the six VC teams are nationally ranked by the JC Gridiron. In addition to COS, others ranked are Modesto (14th), Fresno (24th), Chabot (25th) and Laney (53rd)…COS' three wins to open the season is its best start since two years ago, when the Giants went 5-0 in non-conference games. They followed that with a 1-4 conference record to finish 6-4...next week COS hosts Santa Rosa....prior to DeAnza's win vs. Feather River, the Dons had lost 12 games in a row and 18 of their last 19.
TEAM LOGS:
De Anza (1-2)
Fresno L 20-30
American River L 2-38
Feather River W 40- 7
COS (3-0)
Foothill W 33-16
Feather River W 53-21
Siskiyous W 36-29
VALLEY CONFERENCE STANDINGS
(non-conference games)
W-L PS PA
COS 3-0 122 66
Chabot 2-1 95 48
Fresno 2-1 106 100
Laney 2-1 66 69
Modesto 2-1 117 95
Delta 1-2 74 97
GAMES SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
Santa Rosa @ Laney (Sept. 25)
San Mateo @ San Joaquin Delta, 1 pm
Fresno @ Butte, 1 pm
DeAnza @ COS, 5 pm
Chabot @ Feather River, 5 pm
Modesto @ Sacramento, 6 pm
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
