KNIGHT FOOTBALL 2009

Visiting Knights dominate Contra Costa 53-0

The Shasta College football team rolled past host Contra Costa 53-0 on Saturday.

The Knights dominated the action with its run game and a standout defensive performance.

Shasta (2-1 Bay Valley Conference, 4-5) had seven offensive touchdowns - all of them rushing - and forced five turnovers.

"It was a dominant defensive performance," Knights head coach Craig Thompson said. "Our best effort all season."

The Knights have outscored their last two opponents 106-14, but now get a bye week before traveling to Eureka to face College of the Redwoods for its final regular-season game on Nov. 14.

Contra Costa, as the host team, kept statistics put won't be able to release them until today.

But stats weren't needed to show how much Shasta controlled the game from start to finish.

Cole Johnston ran for three touchdowns, two in the first half. The first one came in the first quarter when he was playing quarterback. Then, after a short touchdown run by Manny Barragan later in the quarter, Johnston went back to tailback and scored on an 18-yard touchdown run off a toss sweep in the second quarter.

Shasta went into halftime up 20-0, but had some turnovers in the second quarter.

"We got a little sloppy and our coaches had to go in at halftime and get them refocused," Thompson said.

Johnston scored his third rushing touchdown early in the third quarter. Xavier Robinson added two rushing scores and Emerald Guillett ran for one.

"On offense we pretty much did anything we wanted to do at times," Thompson said.

Backup linebacker Mitch McDevitt completed the scoring by returning an interception 15 yards for a score in the fourth quarter.

Tyrone Hollister picked off two passes, pushing his season total to four, and Ben Hughes had a fumble recovery.

"It was an outstanding game for the defense," Thompson said. "They didn't have much offense. They tired all sorts of things, even the Wildcat, and we handled everything."

Shasta missed three extra-points, but also blocked three Comet field-goal attempts.

Shasta Knights run over Solano College 53-14

That's the way to come back from a demoralizing loss.

That's also quite a way to end the home season.

The Shasta College football team clobbered visiting Solano 53-14 behind a dominant running game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

The Knights (1-1 Bay Valley Conference, 3-5) rolled up 394 yards on the ground and had 581 yards of total offense, bouncing back from last week's disappointing 17-14 loss at Yuba College.

"The players were demoralized after that game, knowing that they weren't at full strength because of the flu," Knights head coach Craig Thompson said. "They were on a mission to come out here and show that last week wasn't them. They wanted to show what they were truly about."

Shasta emphatically did so at the expense of the Falcons (0-1 BVC, 1-6). The Knights scored on all five first-half possessions and jumped out to a 33-0 lead by halftime.

It was the final home game of the season and the final Knights home game for many sophomores. Plenty of those second-year players went out in style.

"It was a good win for our last home game," Knights do-everything offensive player Cole Johnston said. "It felt really good to go out with a win and score a lot of touchdowns doing so."

The Knights wanted to re-establish their running game and did so in a big way. Manny Barragan rushed 20 times for 169 yards and two touchdowns, while Trevor Rook added 14 carries for 79 yards and a score. Xavier Robinson (eight rushes, 48 yards, 1 TD) and Johnston (10 rushes, 51 yards, 1 TD) also had plenty of success running behind a Shasta offensive line that opened holes even when the Solano defense tried to put nine defenders in the box.

The Shasta defense also was strong in holding the Falcons to nine rushing yards the entire game. Solano was at -1 yard rushing in the first half alone.

The Knights defensively got pressure on Solano quarterback Boy Humphrey, who was 9-for-29 passing for 133 yards and an interception. Falcons backup quarterback Matt Altieri was 13-for-25 for 142 yards and two touchdown passes, but most of the yardage came after the game was already well in hand.

"Our defensive line didn't make a lot of plays, but we got pressure and kept their line occupied," Knights defensive tackle Ben Hughes said. "Everyone behind us did their job.

"It is a great feeling to get this win. The Yuba game wasn't was reflection of what we are capable of."

Even the breaks were going Shasta's way.

The Knights were forced to punt on their first possession and Shasta punter Virgil Woods had to leap up to grab a high snap. He then eluded a charging Falcons player before seeing tons of green in front of him. So the sophomore took off and rolled 21 yards for a first down.

Shasta ended up scoring on a 4-yard quarterback keeper by Johnston for a quick 6-0 lead. The Knights ended up scoring its first four TDs on the ground.

That was what the Knights coaching staff wanted. Thompson said he challenged his offensive line and running backs during the week to improve what had been a stagnant ground attack.

"I made a point of congratulating those groups afterwards" Thompson said. "They stepped up to the plate and showed that this is the way Shasta College is playing."

The Knights only threw the ball 13 passes the entire game and all of them were play-action attempts.

Shasta went 74 yards on nine plays on its second possession with 53 of those yards on the ground. Trevor Rook, a sophomore from Del Norte High School, did the scoring honors with a 2-yard TD run with 34 seconds left in the first quarter.

Then it was Barragan's turn to show his gamebreaking ability, taking a toss sweep left for a 52-yard scoring run two minutes into the second quarter.

Barragan later added a 23-yard scoring run with 6:14 left in the second quarter that made it 27-0 Shasta at the time.

"We came together as a team and got over that flu bug," Barragan said. "We did real well tonight. For me, my leg wasn't hurting at all. It's been bugging me since the Sac City game, but I was feeling good about for this game."

Johnston was 8-for-10 passing for 108 yards and an interception. He threw a 5-yard scoring pass to sophomore tight end Saxon Schultz with 57 seconds left in the first half for a 33-0 lead.

Schultz finished with four catches for 63 yards and fellow sophomore tight end Ezri Topete added two catches for 31 yards.

Meanwhile, the Shasta defense was keeping the Falcons from mounting any sort of sort.

"We had their number all game," Knights linebacker Zach Gibbins said.

The Knights came out strong in the second half and nearly scored again before Johnston was picked off inside the Solano 10-yard line by Falcons defensive back Joe Lopez.

Things started to get chippy between the two teams by that point. Solano marched down the field, aided by three penalties by the Shasta defense, before Altieri threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Keonte Howard with 5:04 left in the third quarter.

Finally on the board, Solano tried an onside kick but Shasta's Kody Hansen recovered the ball. Even worse for the Falcons, they were called for offsides on the play and then were assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for arguing on the play. Twenty penalty yards later, the Knights had the ball on the Solano 19. Four plays later, Robinson scored from two yards out.

The Knights had everyone get into the act in the second half.

Matt Summers-Johnson hit Brian Brown for a 79-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter, putting the Knights up 46-7.

Then, the Knights tried a squib kick on the kickoff, mindful that Howard had a 93-yard return for score nullified by a Solano penalty earlier in the game. Instead, the ball hit off a retreating Solano player and the Knights recovered to get possession again.

"That an unnatural thing that happened," Thompson said. "We weren't trying to get the ball back. It just hit one of their players and we pounced on the ball."

Backup cornerback Ronny Soulliere later picked off an Altieri pass and returned it 12 yards to the Solano 8. Summers-Johnston then snuck in from a yard out with 11:15 left in the game.

Howard caught a 3-yard TD pass from Altieri with 1:32 left before things really came to a head between the two teams.

Solano failed on an onside kick, but there was pushing and shoving going on during the play that nearly precipitated a brawl before both sides calmed down somewhat. The officials had seen enough however and called the game with 1:31 still showing on the clock.

Knights don't have enough left in tank, fall to Yuba 17-14

The flu bug and the 49ers did the Knights in.

Ravaged by illnesses, the Shasta College football team didn't have enough strength to hold off host Yuba, falling 17-14 in Marysville on Saturday.

Shasta led 14-3 at half, but had been beset by illnesses all week. Several players couldn't finish the second half and the Knights couldn't fill in the missing gaps.

"The flu bug kicked our butts," Knights head coach Craig Thompson said. "We had guys who weren't able to complete the game."

Shasta (0-1 Bay Valley Conference, 2-5) also missed two field goals of 36 and 40 yards in the fourth quarter that could have tied the game.

Cole Johnston gave the Knights an early lead with an 8-yard touchdown run on a quarterback keeper in the first quarter.

The sophomore then tossed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Ezri Topete in the second quarter.

But Johnston suffered an injury to his hand early in the second half and had finish the game at running back or wide receiver.

"He suffered an injury to his throwing hand and it prevented him from throwing the ball well," Thompson said.

Yuba came back with a couple of big scoring plays, one on the ground and one through the air to earn the win.

Thompson said that close to half his usual starting lineup was affected by the illnesses, either not making the trip or being hampered in the game. Offensive standouts Marcus Brooks and Manny Barragan also played under the weather.

Knights drop heart-stopper 34-33 in 2OT

(October 11, 2009)

Saturday's heart-stopper at Memorial Stadium is a prime example of how, in some games, it is unfortunate only one team can win.

The Shasta College football team lost to Feather River 34-33 in two overtimes when Kelly Crowley's extra-point attempt clanged off the left upright.

Cole Johnston, who rallied Shasta from a two-touchdown deficit in the second half, was the holder on the kick and said Crowley slipped a bit on the kick, leading to the miss.

Shasta was out of sorts in the first half and trailed 13-3 after having trouble containing Feather River quarterback Ricky Mitchell.

However, the Knights regrouped and came back from 20-6 to tie the game on Johnston's 8-yard touchdown pass to Emerald Guillet with 13 seconds left in regulation.

"My favorite thing about this team is all year long, we've been fighting back," Johnston said after the game. "We did so again tonight. It sucks we lost, but I am proud for everyone for fighting back."

Shasta was up 27-20 in the first overtime, but the Knights allowed Feather River to convert on a fourth-and-21 situation with a 26-yard pass play.

The Knights made a gutsy late call, running the same play twice. Normally, sure-handed Saxon Schultz dropped a throwback to the tight end play when he was wide open during the second overtime. But the Knights ran the play to the right side to Ezri Topete on fourth down and this time it worked.

"It was so open the first time, we decided to try it again," Knights head coach Craig Thompson said.

Mitchell ran for 143 yards and two scores on 20 carries, and passed for a 29-yard touchdown on a broken play.

Johnston, a Foothill High School product, nearly was the hero after sitting out the first two series of the second half with an upset stomach. He ran for 127 yards on 16 carries, including an 18-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. He also was 6-for-9 passing for 66 yards and three touchdowns.

The loss drops Shasta to 2-4, but it also showed that the Knights may still be the team to beat once Bay Valley Conference play starts next week. Shasta is on the road at Yuba.

"This was a really tough loss for us," Knights defensive end Marcus Sannadan said. "But it's going to fuel the fire to win conference."

Defensively, Shasta is performing better by switching up its scheme. The Knights run out of a 3-5 formation with Austin Cantrell and Scott Geddings playing in the alleys as half-outside linebackers and half-safeties, giving Shasta a stronger presence on that side of the ball.

"This scheme allows us to be more aggressive and that's more like our personality," Knights linebacker Zach Gibbins said. "This fits our personnel better a lot."

Shasta had four chances inside the Feather River 25-yard line and came away with six points on two Crowley field goals.

"We had some missed opportunities in the first half that hurt us," Thompson said.

But Johnston led a late charge and Shasta also got a nice performance out of Guillet, a reserve wide receiver who made the game-tying catch in regulation and was effective on a couple of fly sweeps.

Reporter Jeffrey Jen can be reached at 225-8228

Knights bounce back with 34-25 win over Redwoods

(by Jeffrey Jen, Record Searchlight Oct 4, 2009)

The Knights got their much-needed confidence boost.

Maybe there were times the game got sloppy for the Shasta College football team, but the end result was beautiful.

Andre Eddings recovered his own blocked punt and returned it 18 yards for a touchdown as the Knights rolled past College of the Redwoods 34-25 at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

The score was closer than it should have been. The Knights (2-3) put in reserves a little early and allowed the Corsairs (0-5) to score two late touchdowns after securing a 34-13 lead late in the third quarter.

“A win is a win and getting one was our priority,” Knights head coach Craig Thompson said afterwards. “It wasn’t the cleanest offensive game by any stretch, but it is a step in the right direction for us.”

The biggest step forward was done by the Shasta defense, which began to show the form that made it one the state’s best a year ago. Outside of two running plays and two late pass plays when the outcome had all been decided, the Knights bottled up Redwoods.

At halftime, Shasta led 21-7 and had allowed 41 yards of total offense for the entire half, 39 coming on one run play.

Otherwise, it would have been complete domination by a revamped Shasta defense. Knights defensive coordinator went with a 3-5 flex formation, much like what Foothill High School runs.

“We definitely played a lot more aggressively,” Knights linebacker Zach Gibbins said. “We were playing in a defense that fit our personnel better. We were playing a lot like how we did last year.”

In moving to a 3-5 against Redwoods’ frequent four-receiver sets, Shasta also blitzed frequently with its linebackers. The result was five sacks on Corsairs quarterback R.J. Tialavea, three by linebackers Gibbins, Chace Taylor and Matt Anderson.

“We pretty much sent at least one linebacker every time,” Thompson said. “Sometimes, we sent four guys, other times it was five or six and it was from all different angles.”

Redwoods was held to 260 yards of total offense with 110 of those coming on two big scoring pass plays in the final seven minutes of the game. Afterwards, Thompson and Diskin both acknowledged that they put in defensive reserves in one series early and that led to a semi-dicey situation.

Tialavea hit David Darson for scoring passes of 35 and 75 yards, the second coming with 40 seconds left in the game. Shasta could only breath easier when Tialavea missed on an attempted two-point conversion, keeping the Knights up by two scores.

Offensively, Shasta had struggles with the Corsairs’ blitzing scheme.

“They were bringing all kinds of pressure and that was throwing off some of the things we like to run,” Thompson said.

Shasta had plenty of chances to score early, but Kelly Crowley missed a 22-yard field goal in the first quarter and had a 28-yarder blocked in the second quarter.

The Knights did strike first, albeit in unusual fashion. Freshman running back Manny Barragan fumbled the ball after a 16-yard run on the Redwoods 1-yard line and it rolled into the end zone. Sophomore running back Trevor Rook alertly fell on the ball for a touchdown with 29 seconds to go in the first quarter.

Otis Wiley tied things with a 39-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, but the Knights responded with quarterback Matt Summers-Johnson 3-yard scoring scramble.

A couple minutes later, the biggest play of the night game. Shasta overloaded its right line on a Redwoods punt and Eddings, a freshman safety, came through and blocked the ball on Corsairs 23. The ball bounced back a few yards and Eddings scooped it up and raced with 3:00 left in the first half for a 21-7 lead.

Cole Johnston started and finished at quarterback and was 6-for-10 passing for 59 yards. But Summers-Johnson came in midway through and was 8-for-15 for 131 yards. In the second half, he was 6-for-9 for 100 yards.

The freshman’s 37-yard completion to Emerald Guillet set up a 6-yard scoring run by Barragan with 6:19 left in the third quarter to make it 28-7.

Redwoods responded when Jourdan Del Biaggio found a seam against a blitzing Knights defense and ran 38 yards down to the Shasta 2. Wiley punched the ball in two plays later.

But Knights freshman receiver Mark Brooks gave momentum back to Shasta with a 43-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Shasta faced a third-and-3 on the Redwoods 43 when Brooks caught a short hitch. He made a move on the Redwoods cornerback and raced past the rest of the defense to put Shasta up 34-13 with 41 seconds left in the third quarter.

“It was a five-yard hitch,” Brooks said. “When I caught it and turned, I saw the corner moving towards the sidelines and I cut inside. They were blitzing on the play so they were out of position. Sometimes, one move and that’s all it takes.

Brooks finished with six catches for 109 yards for Shasta.

The Knights were content to ground away at the clock the rest of the way, but couldn’t put a sustained drive together on the ground.

“This is a start,” Thompson said. “Are we happy with the win, yes. But, we still have a lot of work to do.”

Shasta hosts Feather River at 7 p.m. Saturday in its next game.

Eagles soar past Knights 43-26

(by Jeffrey Jen, Record Searchlight)

The Eagles delivered a statement. The Knights are now left searching for answers.

College of the Siskiyous came down south and delivered a 43-26 thumping to host Shasta College at Memoriadl Stadium on Saturday.

The Eagles (2-2) scored 20 unanswered points in a seven-minute span in the second half to blow open the game and were dominant offensively. Siskiyous has now won five of the last six meetings between the rival programs.

Mount Shasta High School product Patrick Lunney, a third-year sophomore running back for the Eagles, rushed 28 times for 201 yards and two touchdowns, while freshman quarterback Josh Hudson was 20-of-29 for 305 yards and three touchdowns.

Siskiyous rolled up 635 yards of total offense and turned what had been a 21-13 game at halftime into a 41-13 early in the fourth quarter.

“We’re not playing good enough defense to stop anybody right now,” Knights head coach Craig Thompson said after the game. “They just came out and beat us.”

Defensively, the Eagles were more disciplined and aggressive and held the Knights to 197 yards offensively, including 64 yards total in the second half. Siskiyous’ big defensive line was able to get constant pressure on Shasta quarterbacks Matt Summers-Johnson and Cole Johnston.

“We did what we needed to do,” Eagles head coach Eric Young said. “Obviously, it was an emotional game. But I thought our kids did a good job of keeping their heads in it and sticking to the game plan.”

Siskiyous was coming off two tough losses to San Joaquin Delta and needed a victory to re-establish itself. A victory over Shasta is exactly the tonic the Eagles needed, especially after Shasta beat them 35-27 in Weed last season.

“The whole week of practice, we were trying to get back to a positive mentality,” Lunney said. “We wanted to get a win and we did owe them one after last year.”

Shasta (1-3) won the special teams battle, especially on kickoff returns, but that was small consolation after the way the Knights were manhandled on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

Shasta still has issues in the secondary despite reshuffling personnel. But, there were other concerns. The Knights struggled to generate a pass rush, pushing even more pressure on the defensive backs.

“It’s a combination of things right now,” Thompson said. “The lack of a pass rush, missed tackles, the coverage sometimes breaks down.”

Hudson hit Yreka product Kyson Culp on a 45-yard pass play in the first quarter to set up Hudson’s own 6-yard touchdown run less than five minutes into the game.

The Knights’ Manny Barragan returned the ensuing kickoff 66 yards to the Siskiyous 16-yard line, the first of many big kickoffs by Barragan. However, the Shasta offense did nothing and had to settle for a 38-yard Kelly Crowley field goal.

Lunney’s first score came from three yards out on the final play of the first quarter, putting Siskiyous up 14-3.

“Lunney is one hell of a running back,” Knights safety Casey Robertson said. “They did a good job mixing things up on us. They kept us on our heels.”

But Shasta quickly bounced back. Xavier Robison fielded a short kickoff and returned it 32 yards to the Eagles 38. Two plays later, Summers-Johnston hit Cole Johnston on a wheel route for a 34-yard touchdown pass.

But Siskiyous kept driving on the ground and then used play-action pass to great effect. That was how Hudson hit Zach Young for a 20-yard TD pass with 10:35 left in the first half.

Crowley’s 28-yard field goal made it 21-13.

Shasta was driving again to open the second half, but had to turn the ball over on downs on the Eagles 18.

Hudson would find Young for another 20-yard TD pass with 3:11 left in the third quarter. The Knights then began to unravel a bit while Siskiyous poured things on.

Lunney raced down the left sidelines past a couple of Knights defenders on a 42-yard touchdown run for a second score.

On the next Eagles drive, Shasta cornerback Tyrone Hollister dropped a potential interception in Siskiyous territory. Adding insult to injury, the sophomore later got beat on a 55-yard touchdown pass to Hakeim Pearson on the same drive.

“We’ve got some growing up to do,” Thompson said. “We need to find that belief again that we can be a good football team.”

It was Siskiyous that looked good Saturday.

“It’s a good group of guys,” Young said. “They play hard and play together and for each other.”

The bright spot for Shasta was the special teams. The Eagles still kept kicking deep and Barragan finally made them pay with an 85-yard kickoff return for a score to cut the lead to 41-20.

Barragan finished with four kickoff returns for 222 yards.

Johnston added two kickoff returns for 55 yards and two punt returns for 38 yards. The sophomore from Foothill threw a costly interception in the second quarter, but added a 34-yard touchdown to Saxon Schultz with under three minutes left in the game.

Shasta looks for bit of payback against Sac City

(By Jeffrey Jen, September 19, 2009)

If there was any memory that could be wiped from the Knights' minds of the 2008 season, the final seconds of the home game with Sacramento City would be it.

The Panthers scored on a deflected Hail Mary on the last play of the game to stun the Shasta College football team 12-9 last year. It was one of two losses last season for the Knights.

"I didn't even know how to react to that," Knights defensive tackle Ben Hughes said about last year's play.

But now it after watching Laney and Mendocino take a shot at revenge for the past two weeks, with mixed results, Shasta has a chance to redemption this week when the Knights travel to face Sac City at 7 p.m. today.

"I think there is a measure of revenge coming in," Hughes said. "We were beating them the whole game. Then they stole it from us, so now we have to go out there prove ourselves again."

While Shasta (1-1) moved back into Northern California regional poll at No. 19, the Panthers are 0-2. However, that record is misleading since Sac City has faced the top two teams in NorCal so far. The Panthers lost to top-ranked Butte 52-28 in Oroville in the season opener, then fell to No. 4 Sierra 46-28 at home.

Sac City is led by quarterback Cody Allen who has thrown for 529 yards and five touchdowns against top-caliber competition. He has two lethal targets in Victor Spencer (14 catches, 171 yards, 2 TDs) and Jeremiah Oates (12 catches, 167 yards, 3 TDs).

The Panthers will severely test a Shasta pass defense which has suffered breakdowns, leading to big plays, in the first two games of the season. However, the Knights coaching staff remains confident that the issues in the secondary have been fixed.

Traditionally, Sac City likes to throw the ball, but Steve Tezanos-Pinto has run for 145 yards for the Panthers so far this season. Sac City likely will try to establish a run after Mendocino had some early success on the ground last week against the Knights defense.

Shasta may have an advantage in the return game. Freshman Manuel Barragan has averaged 27.2 yards on kick returns so far this season. The Knights also appeared more settled in the kicking game.

A big key will be how the Knights offense can fare against an athletic Panthers defense that had a tough time against two of the better offenses in the state.

After early struggles against Mendocino, Shasta played better regardless of whether it was freshman Matthew Summers-Johnson or sophomore Cole Johnston taking snaps from center.

Summers-Johnson accounted for three touchdowns last week and Johnston made a couple of big plays late in the Mendocino game to help preserve the Knights' victory.

The Knights' running game also picked up against Mendocino. Barragan (119 yards, 5.0 average per carry) has been solid early on and there are a number of backs behind him who also can chip in a few carries. Freshman wide receiver Mark Brooks (9 catches, 158 yards, 2 TDs) and tight ends Ezri Topete and Saxon Schultz have been effective in the passing game.

Knights beat Mendocino 31-26 in home opener

The coaches and player didn't say it before the game.

But afterward, everyone acknowledged the Shasta College football team's 31-26 victory over Mendocino at Memorial Stadium on Saturday was a big boost for the Knights' season.

"It was a big win for us," Knights linebacker Zach Gibbins said. "It gives us a lot of confidence. We've been working hard, so it was nice to see all the effort rewarded tonight."

There are still some issues to clean up, but Knights head coach Craig Thompson was pleased with his team's growth in pulling out a victory over the Eagles after facing deficits of 14-3 and 20-10 in the first half.

"Our maturity is continuing to grow," Thompson said after the game. "This is a real satisfying win because Mendocino is a good, quality opponent. We needed this too for the players to have faith that this is going to be a real good team."

Mendocino showcased a decent running attack early on, catching the Shasta defense off-balance.

"They passed a lot last week," Gibbins said. "That's what we expected to see. Seeing them run caught us off-guard, but we adjusted to it."

The Knights defense, supposed to be the early-season bedrock for the team, struggled and allowed 20 points in the first half.

However, Shasta nearly pitched a shutout in the second half. Only a 42-yard touchdown pass from Mendocino backup quarterback Brooks Beaudette to Trent Scatena on the game's last play prevented that.

Until that point, Shasta had reeled off 21 straight unanswered points.

While there were some strong performances from Ben Hughes and Matt Anderson on the defensive line and free safety Austin Cantrell, the Knights have holes in the secondary. Mendocino quarterback Jake Stricker had receivers open on several occasions, but failed to capitalize. He finished 8-for-15 for 91 yards. Beaudette, a Shasta High School graduate, was 5-for-9 for 79 yards in the last drive.

While Mendocino used three different quarterbacks, Shasta went with two and both had their moments.

Freshman Matt Summers-Johnson finished 17-of-27 for 168 yards and a 1-yard touchdown sneak. He threw two touchdown passes, but also threw some questionable balls and Mendocino dropped at least two potential interceptions.

Cole Johnston struggled rushing the ball from the tailback spot, but was much more effective in the second half as change-of-pace quarterback.

"It's a good strength of our team when we have two quarterbacks," Summers-Johnson said. "Cole is like the wildcat quarterback who can run and I'm more pro-style."

Summers-Johnson led Shasta to a 24-20 lead and Johnston came in close the deal. He threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Brian Brown early in the fourth quarter and ran for a key first-down conversion on a fourth-and-7 to keep Shasta's long fourth-quarter drive going.

In addition to the two quarterbacks, the Knights gave home fans a show of how deep they are in the backfield.

Freshman Manny Barragan was solid with runs, finishing with 88 yards on 14 carries.

But, Shasta also got production from sophomore Trevor Rook (eight rushes, 34 yards), freshman Xavier Robinson (seven rushes, 35 yards) and fullback Marcus Sannadan (five rushes, 26 yards) on its way to a ground game that rolled up 190 yards.

"I'm sure they all want to be the feature back," Thompson said. "But they are a great group of guys who all support each other."

Shasta also showed an improved kicking game. Freshman Kelly Crowley hit a 36-yard field goal and made all four of his extra points, while Brad Winters boomed a couple of 45-yard punts.

Knights far from down over first loss

(Posted September 10, 2009 by Record Searchlight)

On Saturday, the home crowd will get its first look at the 2009 Shasta College Knights football team, when they host Mendocino at 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

By then, the Knights will be eight days removed from their season-opening 34-19 loss at Laney.

Early thoughts from the Knights camp are that there isn't too much discouragement from the defeat.

That can be construed as an odd statement from a program that went 9-2 a year ago.

In some scenarios, one loss is fatal. The Oklahoma Sooners lost 14-13 to BYU in their season-opener last weekend and some already are thinking they are out of the national championship picture even though the Sooners still have 11 games left on their schedule (not including a possible Big 12 title game and a bowl game). Given how topsy-turvy college football can be, that thinking is premature.

But taken into context, the game at Laney revealed more about what Shasta has at the moment and what the Knights need to work on rather than how it affects the 2009 goals.

The big goal for Shasta is to win the Bay Valley Conference again - a quest that won't begin until Oct. 17 against Yuba College in Marysville.

Until then, Shasta has five more games against tougher competition to prepare for the final four-game stretch, starting with Mendocino which won a 55-46 passing shootout over Hartnell on Saturday.

Of course, big plays through the air were what hurt the Knights against Laney, but Shasta players and coaches believe that those issues have been resolved.

The Knights return six starters from the usual 22 from last year, so there are a plenty of first-year players stepping in right away.

"We're young and still real green," Knights offensive coordinator Howard Gay said.

Gay also described the team's play as ragged at times, but that is the same for everyone.

With schools cutting costs, there was no scrimmage for everyone to get the kinks out.

The positive signs from the game are the big-play potential of Shasta's offense and emergence of Cole Johnston being an X-factor for opposing defenses this season.

Johnston, who welcomed a move to running back prior to the start of the season, carried the ball 16 times for 35 yards, caught three passes for 17 yards and was 4-of-6 passing for 66 yards and a 21-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ezri Topete against Laney.

"The thing we took away from the game is that we have something that can be potentially special if we work on it," Knights head coach Craig Thompson said. "We make mistakes, but they are all fixable."

Of course, an 0-2 start is never good but the talk in the Knights camp - for now - is more about improvement and getting experience for the later conference games.

Reporter Jeffrey Jen can be reached at 225-8228 or at jjen@redding.com.

Knights open with a 34-19 loss at Laney

 (9-5-09 Record Searchlight)

The Shasta College football team fell to Laney 34-19 on the road to open the 2009 season.

Big pass plays allowed Laney to score 20 unanswered points late in the second quarter, dooming the Knights to a road loss.

"Basically, it was three big pass plays that killed us," Knights head coach Craig Thompson said. "We had some secondary breakdowns, and a couple of times, they had guys wide open behind us."

Shasta also continued its kicking woes by missing two extra points. However, Thompson said he and his coaching staff took away plenty of positives. "We showed that we can be a big-play offense ourselves," Thompson said.

Freshman quarterback Matt Summers-Johnson hit wide receiver Marcus Brooks for an 80-yard touchdown pass midway through the first quarter to tie the game at 7-7. Then came the Laney aerial onslaught and next thing Shasta knew, the Knights were trailing 27-7 at halftime. Shasta also was hurt by at least four dropped passes in the first half alone.

However, Thompson liked how his team responded in the second half. I did like the attitude and effort," Thompson said. "We faced a lot of adversity early on. However, we regathered ourselves in the second half and actually played some good football."

Freshman running back Manny Barrigan scored on a 15-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. After a Laney touchdown bumped the lead back up to 34-13, sophomore Cole Johnston hit sophomore tight end Ezri Topete on a 22-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

Thompson has happy with the performance of his quarterbacks, Summers-Johnson and Johnston. As for the defensive struggles, Thompson said it boiled down to misreads and breakdowns with the passing game. "We played the run really well," Thompson said. "They didn't have much success running the ball on us. If we just clean up a few things in the secondary, we'll have a pretty good unit."

Shasta will get a chance to regroup at home on Sept. 12 when the Knights host Mendocino.