Eagle Football’s First Bowl victory in 11 years Was A Rout

The Eagles' big time players came up big and so did many others during College of the Siskiyous' first football postseason bowl victory in 11 years.

Everything clicked in the Eagles' 42-7 romp over San Joaquin Delta in the Northern California Bowl on Nov. 22 at Herschel Meredith Stadium. The win capped a second consecutive 7-4 season.

"We played our best game of the season at the end, that's what you want," said head coach Adam Groppi. "It was a team victory in all phases of the game."

It started with quarterback Brayden Schiefer's 67 yard touchdown run down the sideline in the first quarter and ended with two time all-conference defensive lineman/short yardage running back Zaveon Jones' second TD run of the game from 8 yards out in the final minute of the fourth quarter.

In between, the Eagle defense, offense, and special teams all dominated a Pacific 7 Conference opponent they had a lot of trouble with during a 29-23 win a month earlier.

Jones' 3 yard TD run early in the second quarter capped an 8 play, 65 yard drive that included a short pass from Schiefer to sophomore receiver Seth Arnett, who turned it into a 44 yard gain.

The score was 14-7 before two time all-conference running back Bryson McFall's 1 yard TD run late in the first half made it 21-7. That score was set up by McFall's 65 yard run on first down from the Eagles' 25 yard line.

Delta returned the ensuing kickoff 55 yards to the Eagle 40, but the Eagles soon got the ball back when freshman defensive back Jordan Westerholm leapt in front of a receiver for an interception near the sideline at the 17 yard line.

It didn't take long for the roll to continue in the second half.

Two time all-conference wide receiver David Wacenske jumped and reached above his head to make a one-hand catch on a pass from Schiefer, then found a lot of open space on his way to the end zone on a 31 yard score in the third quarter.

All-conference freshman defensive back Aidan Nelson ended Delta's next drive with an interception that he returned 24 yards to the 22 yard line. A personal foul on Delta put the ball at the 11, and it took just one offensive to add to the lead: wide receiver Asher Lucas

took a handoff from quarterback Kyle Dixon then threw an 11 yard touchdown pass to a wide open Dixon, who scored easily to make it 35-7.

The Eagles used 8:21 of the fourth quarter clock on their final scoring drive, and kicker Kyler Theis finished the day with a perfect 6 for 6 on extra point kicks.

McFall was named the Northern California Bowl Player of the Game, Wacenske was the Offensive Player of the Game, and Jones was the Defensive Player of the Game.

Wacenske caught 8 passes for 158 yards and became the first pass catcher in school history to reach the 1,000 yard receiving mark in a season. He totaled 1,046 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns this year, finishing his Eagle career with 17 receiving touchdowns, one short of the school record set by Darius Davis in 2008. And Wacenske's 1,875 career receiving yards is just 5 short of Davis's school record.

McFall had 21 rushes for 174 yards against Delta, an average of 8.3 yards per carry. He finished the season with 1,001 rushing yards on 166 attempts to average 6 yards per carry for the second season in a row. He had 1,759 yards for his Eagle career and 14 touchdowns, including 8 this season. And he only lost 1 fumble on 293 rushing attempts.

Jones had 2 of the Eagle defense's 3 quarterback sacks and 3 tackles for -24 yards. He also rushed 3 times for 16 yards and 2 touchdowns to finish the season with a team-high 12 touchdowns. That gave him 25 touchdowns in two years on 74 rushing attempts with only 1 fumble lost.

Schiefer, along with his long TD run, had one of his best passing games of the season. He completed 10 of 15 attempts (66.7%) for 211 yards (14.1 yards per attempt) with 1 touchdown and no interceptions. He finished the season with 119 pass completions on 191 attempts (63.3%) for 1,680 yards, 15 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. He also rushed 40 times for 247 yards and 2 touchdowns with only 1 fumble lost.

Like the final score, team statistics for the Northern California Bowl were lopsided in the Eagles' favor, a much different result than the first time they played Delta. The Eagles had 504 yards of total offense and 282 yards rushing in their Bowl win, compared to Delta's 239 and 61. The Eagles were penalized 6 times for 59 yards, while Delta had 12 penalties for 121 yards. The Eagles had 3 sacks to Delta's 2. Delta turned the ball over twice, the Eagles had none. One stat that didn't show the Eagles' dominance was time of possession. The Eagles had the ball for 30:14 to Delta's 29:46.

When the Eagles won their Pac 7 game at Delta by 6 points a month earlier, Delta had 388 yards of total offense to Siskiyous' 258, despite the Eagles passing for more yards, 176-109. And Delta won the time of possession despite losing that day, 32:27 to 25:48.

So, Delta had 279 yards rushing against the Eagles on Oct. 25 but only 61 yards rushing on Nov. 22. And while Delta's Marice Griffin Jr. had 27 carries for 179 yards in that conference game, he had only 9 rushes for 14 yards in the Northern California Bowl.

Groppi said the Eagles were better in the Bowl game at all levels of the defense, defensive line, linebackers and defensive backs, and they were in Delta's backfield a lot, totaling 11 tackles for loss for -46 yards.

Freshman defensive back Clay Rhoades, who switched from running back early in the season, led the Eagles with 5 solo and 8 total tackles, including 3 tackles for loss.

Two time all-conference linebacker Cody Huntsinger had 4 solo and 7 total tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss, and two time all-conference linebacker Cody Clarke had 3 solo and 5 total tackles, including 1 tackle for loss. The leading tacklers on the team, Clarke finished the season with 103 total tackles and 140 in two years, including 90 solo. Huntsinger finished with 83 tackles this year and 157 in his Eagle career, 97 of them solo.

Freshman cornerback Elijah Bartenstein had 6 total tackles for the third time this season, 4 of them solo, and freshman defensive lineman Kai Russell, like Jones and Westerholm, had 3 solo and 4 total tackles.

Aidan Nelson and freshman defensive back Ajani Ingram each had 2 solo and 3 total tackles, while Nelson and sophomore linebacker Lucien Regis both broke up passes. Sophomore defensive lineman Aahmonni Young got credit for half a tackle for loss, and sophomore all-conference defensive lineman Aisea Takau had a quarterback sack, 2 tackles for loss and a quarterback hit.

The Eagles continued doing what they'd done well all season, taking care of the ball and taking the ball away. According to stats posted on the California Community College Athletic Association website, only one team in the state had fewer fumbles this season than the Eagles' 7, and only a few teams in the state lost fewer fumbles than the Eagles' 6. The Eagles also tied for 11th in the state with 11 fumble recoveries, and only four teams had more than 12. The Eagles ranked 6th in the state with 17 defensive pass interceptions, and only four teams had more than their 363 interception return yards. At the same time, the Eagles only threw 4 pass interceptions all season.

It all adds up to one of the best turnover margins in the state, something Groppi attributes to the "major focus" the Eagles put on ball security drills every day.

The offensive line gets some of the credit for that small number of interceptions by Eagle passers, and they played well in the Bowl win, including two time all-conference right guard Howie Thorne, two time all-conference center Brody Martin, freshman all-conference left

tackle Turtle Muliagatele-Plummer, freshmen linemen Angelo Odom, Ulises Miron, and Keegan Collins, and sophomore tight ends Talon Hernandez and Parker Ziebert.

The Bowl win was Siskiyous' first since 2014 when the Eagles defeated Shasta in the North State Bowl during a stretch when they played in the postseason five times in six seasons under head coach Charlie Roche, who is now the offensive coordinator and director of athletics. Current defensive coordinator Tyler Knudsen was the defensive coordinator then, current offensive line coach Tim Frisbie was the offensive line coach then, and Groppi was the running backs coach.

This year's Bowl win came one year after the Eagles lost the Northern California Bowl on their home field to San Jose City.

"It was a lot of fun," Groppi said of the win. "It was good for everybody involved, for the players, the fans, the school, our great coaching staff. Our coordinators are great at what they do."

He said this was a tight knit team. "Everybody got along. It was all about the team. There was no drama."

Asked about trying to replace all the high quality sophomores on the roster, Groppi said, yes, some will be hard to replace, but that's part of the job. "It's got to be done."

By Steve Gerace