Giants roll past Delta, close in on bowl eligibility
By Nick Giannandrea
COS Athletics
College of the Sequoias rode big plays - including one on the opening kickoff - to a 31-21 Valley Conference football victory over San Joaquin Delta before a homecoming crowd of 1,300 at Giant Chevrolet and Cadillac Mineral King Bowl on Oct. 26.
Zach Wilson (Mission Oak High) recovered a fumble on the game's first play, and the Giants turned it into points on the very next play as Gus Villareal (Dinuba) connected with Sergio Pena (Selma) on a 39-yard touchdown pass.
COS (4-3, 1-1) went on to force three more turnovers - scoring off two - and got six plays of 20 or more yards from its offense while moving within one win of becoming bowl eligible. The Giants haven't played in a bowl since 2005.
A 45-yard run by Davonte Green (Hammond, La.) in the second quarter led to a 30-yard field goal by Dominic Hernandez (Tulare Western) that put COS ahead 10-7.
The Giants made it 17-7 right before halftime when Corleone Peters (New Orleans) sacked Delta quarterback Justin De Mellow, forcing a fumble that he recovered to set up Villareal's 2-yard touchdown run four plays later.
And the big play kept coming in the second half.
Villareal hit Bryson Allen (Tulare Union) for a 33-yard touchdown with 2:24 left in the third quarter as COS went up 24-14.
And the Giants put the score all but out of reach when Noah Beukers (Washington Union) came up with an interception, and on the next play, Green broke free for a 68-yard touchdown run that gave the Giants a 31-14 lead with 7:21 left in the game.
Green, a returning all-conference selection, enjoyed his most productive game of the season, finishing with 171 yards on 18 carries.
Villareal completed 6 of 19 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns. Allen caught three passes for 91 yards and a score.
Defensively, Judah Ruckman (Springville) and Noah Wright (Lemoore) led the way. Ruckman finished with 11 tackles. Wright, who recently received a scholarship offer from San Jose State, made 10 tackles and 2.5 sacks.
The Giants finished with eight sacks, including two from Peters, one each from Mitch Maginni (Riverdale), Jeremiah Russell (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Marcos Moran (Panorama City) and half a sack by Rook Landers (Knoxville, Tenn.). Maginni had eight tackles and Landers finished with seven. Anthony Cervantes added an interception.
COS' defense held Delta (2-5, 0-2) to 20 yards or fewer on 11 of its 16 possessions.
The Giants will play a second straight home game when they host West Hills-Coalinga at 7 p.m. Nov. 2 at Mineral King Bowl. The Falcons (0-7, 0-2) are coming off a 66-12 home loss to Modesto. COS lost 44-21 at Modesto on Oct. 19.
COS closes the regular season with games at 1 p.m. Nov. 9 at Fresno City (5-2, 2-0) and 5 p.m. Nov. 16 at home against Sacramento City (2-5, 1-1).
