Sophomore Day Surge Brings Bowl Game to Siskiyous

A happy bunch of Eagle football players bounded across their muddy home field turf after Saturday's 41-18 postseason Bowl-clinching victory over Redwoods.

For the 17 sophomores who were recognized before kickoff, the game could have been the last they played as Eagles. Instead, they'll be back when the Eagles host San Jose in the Northern California Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 7th.

Siskiyous earned its first postseason football game since 2017 with a dominating second-half performance that broke a second place tie in the American Pac 7 Conference and improved their final regular season record to 7-3.

That's a long-distance migratory journey away from where the sophomores landed after their fledgling flight as Eagles. Last year's team finished 2-8 and lost its final game at Redwoods, 42-0.

Sophomores recognized on the field before the game were defensive back Demetrius McWillie of Rogue River, OR; linebacker Marcus Delgado of Mount Shasta; running back Skyler Crane of Yreka; wide receiver Lucas Cousens of Bellingham, WA; running back/place kicker Genaro Reyna of Cashmere, WA; defensive back Marcus Ledesma of North Marion, OR; defensive back Lance Stewart of Mount Shasta; defensive back Saxon Farkas of Chico; running back Anthony Martin-Sweet of Prosser, WA; linebacker Tyler Martino of McMinnville, OR; defensive lineman Key'Shawn Thomas of Bremerton, WA; linebacker Christian Givan of Alturas; linebacker Soren Slowikowski of Ashland, OR; linebacker Noah Snyder of Eugene, OR; offensive lineman Andrew Bouska of Glencoe, OR; defensive lineman Julian Lehman of Corvallis, OR; and defensive lineman Brody Thomas of Calendonia, Ontario, Canada.

They helped a talented group of freshmen win big on a cold and drizzly Saturday with only a few patches of snow from last week's storm remaining on the edges of the field. In a game they had to win to guarantee themselves a place in the postseason, the Eagles trailed 10-7 at half time, then took flight in the second half.

The defense was good throughout, while the offense struggled to get liftoff in the first two quarters.

What changed after the break?

"We just did what we do," said Zaidan Fejeran, one of several 300-pound freshmen who joined returning all-conference selection Bouska – the offense's only sophomore starter -- on a revitalized offensive line.

"I think it just took the offense awhile to get going," said head coach Adam Groppi. "We didn't practice last week after that snowstorm."

The defense was led in part by the all-over-the-field play of Saxon Farkas (9 solo tackles, 12 total) and linebackers Cody Huntsinger (4 solo, 10 total) and Cody Clarke (7 solo, 9 total, 2 pass interceptions, 1 forced fumble and fumble recovery). Clarke returned his second INT 55 yards but wasn't awarded a score when he hit the pylon with the ball while diving as his leg landed out of bounds.

Genaro Reyna ran it in from there for the game's final score, adding his first touchdown of the season to his 5 of 6 day on PAT kicks.

Demetrius McWillie had a second-half INT, and Marcus Delgado ended Redwoods' final drive of the game, joyously celebrating a fumble recovery after Key'Shawn Thomas dislodged the ball.

The Eagle offense benefited from those second half turnovers while their ground game got going and a couple trick plays clicked.

Quarterback Andreus Smith threw for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass, and defensive lineman/goal-line running back Zaveon Jones powered his way to paydirt twice, increasing his conference-leading total of rushing touchdowns to 13.

Leading running back Bryson McFall gained 40 of his game-high 83 rushing yards by bursting through the line of scrimmage into wide open spaces on a run that ended with him diving across the goal line into a patch of snow with a defender on his back. Suddenly, just 2 minutes of clock time after backup quarterback Brayden Schiefer took a handoff and completed a 19-yard touchdown pass to Smith, the Eagles led 21-10 with just over 5 minutes to play in the third quarter.

Redwoods quickly closed the gap to 21-18, but then the Eagles began their 20-0 closing surge with another handoff pass that gained 31 yards on the last play of the quarter. This time, wide receiver Lawrence Grimes threw to wide receiver Jake Westerman, who caught the ball near the right sideline and made a move past a defender before being forced out of bounds at the Redwoods 6-yard line.

Quarterback Smith and leading receiver David Wacenske had connected for the Eagles' only first-half score, a throw that hit Wacenske in stride after he made a move to get past a defensive back. The 32-yard touchdown gave the Eagles a 7-3 first-quarter lead. But they gained only 21 yards on their other four possessions before the half and trailed by 3 after Redwoods ran it in from a yard out on the final play of the second quarter.

All things considered, 3 points was a miniscule deficit seeing how Redwoods piled up more than three times as many yards as the Eagles' offense in the first half.

It looked about the same after the Eagles received the second half kickoff and went three and out. Then things changed, beginning with Schiefer's second pass of the season, which was also his second touchdown pass.

In the end, the final stat sheet shows the Eagles on the short end of total offense (283 to 326), total offensive plays (52-69) and time of possession (26:48 to 33:24). The Eagles did increase their conference lead in rushing yards with 140 to Redwoods' 99.

The defense limited the conference's second best rushing offense to 3.1 yards per carry and generated some offense of its own, returning 3 pass interceptions for 74 yards.

The defense also had 6 tackles for loss: 1.5 by linebacker Evan Michaelson, 1 each by McWillie, defensive back Kameron Apilado, and Key'Shawn Thomas, 0.5 by Zaveon Jones, and a sack by Julian Lehman. Thomas also blocked a pass and Delgado broke one up.

Next up is San Jose, which is 8-2 overall after a second place finish in the Golden Coast Conference. The Eagles will attempt to reverse the result of their 40-27 pre-conference loss at San Jose on September 21st.

Though it's been seven years since the Eagles played a Bowl game, they've got plenty of coaches who know what it's about. Roche was the head coach in 2017, Groppi was an assistant, current assistants Tyler Knudsen and Tim Frisbie were assistants, and current assistant Aaron Burns was a player.

For this year's sophomores, who Groppi describes as "a solid group with a lot of dedication," it's an opportunity to fly even higher in their finale as Eagles. "They've been a big factor in our turnaround, showing the young guys that it's about the team."

By Steve Gerace