Giants gain bowl eligibility with victory over West Hills-Coalinga
College of the Sequoias' football team became bowl eligible for the first time since 2013 with a 28-13 victory over West Hills-Lemoore on Nov. 2 at Mineral King Bowl.
The Giants (5-3, 2-1) also saw a path open toward a potential Valley Conference title following Fresno City's 26-24 victory over Modesto, which entered ranked No. 4 in the state by the JC Athletic Bureau and No. 3 by the California Community College Sports Information Association.
If COS wins out in its two remaining regular season games Nov. 9 at state Nos. 11/10 Fresno City (6-2, 3-0) and Nov. 16 at home against Sacramento City (2-6, 1-2), it would do no worse than tie for the school's first Valley Conference title since 1998. The Giants haven't played in a bowl since 2010.
COS rode another strong defensive performance and a big-play offense while improving to 38-12-1 all-time against the Falcons (0-8, 0-3), one of the older series in California community college football history dating to 1936.
After giving up Izaak Lindgren's 20-yard touchdown pass to Rayvon Smith on the game's first possession, the Giants dominated the rest of the first half to take control.
Davonte Green (Hammond, La.) broke loose for a 60-yard run on the first play of the ensuing drive, one of nine plays that went for 10 or more yards for COS, to set up a game-tying 5-yard touchdown pass from Gus Villareal (Dinuba) to Sergio Pena (Selma).
COS' defense, led by linebacker Mitch Maggini (Riverdale), held the Falcons to 18 or fewer yards on their final seven possessions of the first half, the last three ending in interceptions by Jeremiah Russell (Knoxville, Tenn.), Noah Beukers (Washington Union) and Bobby Peele.
Russell returned his interception 30 yards for a touchdown that gave COS a 21-7 lead with 2:02 left in the second quarter.
Peele's interception was his state-best sixth of the season and 11th of his career, two away from tying COS' career record of 13 shared by Tom Roberts (1963-65) and Jacob Yavasile (1997-98).
The Giants also received a 44-yard touchdown from Villareal to Bryson Allen (Tulare Union) in the second quarter. Allen has caught at least one touchdown pass in every COS game this season.
Green, who had his second straight big game, scored on a 3-yard run with 11:21 remaining in the third quarter to put the Giants up 28-7.
West Hills closed to 28-14 on Dwan James' 8-yard touchdown run with 7:28 left in the third, but COS' defense stopped consecutive drives deep into Giants' territory to preserve the victory.
Green picked up 35 of his season second-best 170 yards as COS milked the final 3:05 off the clock to wrap up its second straight victory. Green had 171 yards during a 31-21 win over San Joaquin Delta on Oct. 26.
Maggini led COS' defense with nine tackles. Beukers had eight tackles, Noah Wright (Lemoore) had six, including a stop for loss, while Rook Landers (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Anthony Cervantes (Tulare Western) each had five tackles. Corleone Peters (New Orleans) had two sacks.
