Eagles’ rally fell short in home opener

Story and pictures bt Steve Gerace

The College of the Siskiyous football team fell into a cavernous hole early in its 2022 home opener Sept. 17 against Laney. But the young Eagles gave fans some thrills while trying to fight their way out.

Down 28-0 early in the second quarter on a gray late summer day in Weed, the Eagles got within 10 points soon after the second half kickoff before stalling and falling 45-25.

The downward momentum shifted in the second quarter with two consecutive big plays by the defense: first sophomore Andrew Chambers wrapped up and spun down Laney quarterback Demontre Thomas on a solo sack near midfield, and on the next play Chambers recovered a fumble by Thomas and returned it to the Laney 32.

The hometown fans in a sparse crowd at Herschel Meredith Stadium finally had something to cheer about, and the cheering got much louder as the Eagles covered those 32 yards in seven plays, capped by a three-yard touchdown run by quarterback Hunter Davis, a sophomore from Portland.

Laney got flagged for three penalties, went backwards 14 yards, and punted on its next offensive possession. The Eagles took over and made little progress until Davis aired it out to wide open wide freshman receiver Colton Marsters of Roseburg, Ore., who caught the pass in stride and outran the only defender nearby to finish off a 52-yard score.

Laney needed just 34 seconds to return the favor, finding its own wide-open receiver deep in the Siskiyous secondary for a score and PAT kick that made it 35-12 with just over 2 minutes to play in the half.

Mason Reasoner, a freshman from Reno, returned the ensuing kickoff 44 yards to midfield, and the Eagles gained 47 yards on eight plays before Davis completed a three-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Ten Hulscher, a returning all-league pick from The Hague. A successful PAT kick by freshman Ryan Travis of Arbuckle made it 35-19 at the half.

The Eagles continued to soar at the start of the second half when Reasoner returned Laney’s kickoff 40 yards to midfield. A 41-yard run by freshman Gannon Jeter of Redmond was followed by a 12-yard touchdown run by Collin Markus, a freshman from Lakeview.

Though the Eagles failed to convert the PAT for the third time in four tries, they were right in it at 35-25 just 1:35 into the third quarter.

Siskiyous had a chance to get even closer when freshman Andre Estrada of Independence, Ore., forced a fumble on the kickoff and freshman Tulson Higgins of Klamath Falls recovered to set the Eagles up on the Laney 32. Sophomore Gaspar Rodriquez of Mt. Shasta rushed for 14 yards on the next play, but four plays later the ball went over on downs to Laney, which drove 82 yards in 11 plays to make it 43-25.

After that, the offense had success on just one of its final three possessions, an 8-play 49-yard drive that ended at the Laney 26 with 2:33 remaining in the game.

The loss dropped the Eagles to 0-2 for the season, while Laney improved to 3-0 and rose to No. 6 in the JC Athletic Bureau Poll of California Community College Football Coaches.

Laney had 425 yards of total offense but scored just 11 points in the second half.

The Eagles had 291 yards of offense and 219 return yards but also got penalized 11 times for 100 yards. Davis completed 12 of 27 pass attempts for 157 yards. His 2 touchdown passes increased his total to 5 in two games.

Jeter rushed for 74 yards on 12 carries and caught 2 passes for 24 yards. Marsters had 3 catches for 67 yards, and freshman Karson Boschma caught 5 passes for 61 yards.

The Eagles averaged nearly 30 yards per kickoff return with Reasoner gaining 116 yards on 4 tries and Stevie Payne, a sophomore from Yreka, adding 90 yards on 3 returns.

For the defense, freshman Tyler Ennis of Central Point had 9 solo tackles including 2 sacks and 4 tackles for loss. Freshman Jehan King had 5 solo tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and 1.5 tackles for loss, while sophomores Marcus Dilworth and Dominic Lawrence had 5 solo tackles each. Freshman Colby Schols had 4 solo tackles, as did Markus and Higgins.

Now in his third year as head coach, Tyler Knudsen will take his young team south to face Sacramento City (1-2) on Saturday, Sept. 24, beginning at 1 p.m. The Eagles’ roster lists 40 freshmen and 13 sophomores. Their next home game is scheduled for Oct. 1 at 1 p.m. against San Joaquin Delta.

#20 Gannon Jeter (FR) down the sideline for 41 yards.	#43 Tyler Ennis (FR) with one of his 2 Sacks