Giants football denied state playoff berth following loss to Modesto; Will host Foothill in Pepsi Sequoia Bowl on Nov. 22

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

College of the Sequoias' hopes of participating in the state championship football tournament slipped away.

Literally.

Facing a win-and-get-in situation, the state No. 14-ranked Giants lost three costly fumbles, the last of which thwarted a potential go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter of a 33-27 Valley Conference loss to No. 12 Modesto on Nov. 8 at Sequoias Stadium.

Sequoias (7-3 overall, 3-2 Valley Conference) was denied a share of its first conference title since 1998 and a berth into the state playoffs. The champions of the Valley, Bay 6 and NorCal conferences and three wild cards make up the field for the six-team Northern California Regionals.

"It was the miscues on offense with the turnovers, and we had a personal foul on defense that allowed them to score a touchdown," Giants coach Matt Mendonca said. "Those are self-inflicted wounds. And any time you are playing for a championship, you have to be able to play your best football. The team who usually makes the least amount of mistakes wins, so that was those guys today."

Modesto and Fresno City, the other team to beat Sequoias in conference play, got into the regionals.

Fresno City, which topped the Giants 23-21 on Nov. 1 by converting a 49-yard field goal as time expired, was seeded fifth and will play at No. 4 San Francisco at noon Nov. 22 in a regional quarterfinal. Sequoias held an 11-point lead on San Francisco early in the fourth quarter before the Rams rallied for a 24-21 nonconference win on Sept. 6 in Visalia.

Modesto, which captured its fifth straight conference championship, received the No. 2 seed and awaits the winner of the quarterfinal game between No. 6 Butte and No. 3 Diablo Valley in the regional semifinals Nov. 29.

The Giants were passed over for a wild card berth despite defeating NorCal Conference co-champ Butte 42-38 on Sept. 27 in Visalia.

Sequoias, however, will host a bowl for the second straight year and play in the postseason for the sixth consecutive championship season. The Giants are scheduled to face Foothill (5-5 overall, 2-3 Bay 6) in the Pepsi Sequoia Bowl at noon Nov. 22 at Sequoias Stadium.

"We have more football to play," Mendonca said. "I know our guys are going to show up on Monday ready to work. They are never going to quit. They are going to fight. That's what we do here at COS. I'm very proud of those guys."

The Giants' chances of beating Modesto (8-2, 5-0) and getting into the state playoffs appeared bleak after the Pirates opened a three-score lead midway through the third quarter, aided by a pair of strip sacks of quarterback Payton Faker (Burien, Wash.).

The first, caused by Modesto's Jack Hinchey and recovered by Jalonn Booth, ended a Sequoias march to the Pirates' 39-yard line.

Ten plays later, Emanuel Garibay's 29-yard field goal put Modesto up 26-13 with 7:31 to play in the third.

The second, caused by Booth and recovered by Hinchey, led to Bryson Davis' 6-yard touchdown run two plays later that put Modesto up 33-13 with 5:52 remaining in the third.

But Sequoias responded with a 13-play, 50-yard touchdown drive punctuated by a 26-yard pass from Faker to O'Bryan Flanigan (San Francisco) with 47 seconds left in the third, cutting the deficit to 33-20.

The Giants' defense, which allowed scores on Modesto's first six possessions, followed with its first stop of the game and forced a punt.

Sequoias' offense took over and marched 71 yards in six plays, cutting the deficit to 33-27 on a 36-yard scoring pass from Faker to Flanigan with 11:23 remaining in the game.

The Giants' Pana Tuputala (Federal Way, Wash.) forced and recovered a DayDay Tafoya fumble on Modesto's next possession to give Sequoias the ball on its 24-yard-line. But that drive stalled after four plays, with Faker -- the state's leader in passing yards -- suffering an injury on a third-down sack.

The Giants defense proceeded to deliver a third straight stop, giving the offense one final shot.

Marshel Sanders (Clovis West High) drew a pass interference penalty, and backup quarterback Caden Dawes (Tucson, Ariz.) connected with Flanigan for 15 yards then hit Gage Armbruster (Corcoran High) with passes of 12 and 10 yards to move Sequoias from its 43-yard line to the Modesto 40.

Sequoias got into the red zone after Flanigan pulled down a 20-yard pass from Dawes down to the Modesto 20. But the Pirates forced a fumble, with Reyes Diaz recovering with 1:49 left in the game.

Three Aiden Muhammad rushes produced a first down that allowed Modesto to run out the clock.

"When we were down 33-13, I looked over at the sideline and there wasn't anybody on our team that quit," Mendonca said. "In years past, we would have looked at each other and pointed a bunch of fingers, and that didn't happen. The guys banded together and fought until the very end. We had a chance to win the game after being down three scores in the second half."

The Pirates and Giants traded scores in a fast-paced first quarter, with Modesto opening the scoring on a 16-yard run by Davis.

Sequoias countered on Faker's 25-yard touchdown pass to Armbruster to make it 7-7.

The Pirates went ahead 14-7 on the second of Davis' three touchdown runs, before Armbruster caught a 42-yard touchdown from Faker to make it 14-13.

Modesto pulled ahead 23-13 in the second quarter courtesy of a 7-yard scoring pass from Tafoya to Mateo Gallichio and a 22-yard Isaac Padilla field goal.

Armbruster finished with 14 catches for 193 yards, tying Brandon Hudgins (2013) for the most receptions in a single game in school history. Armbruster's 103 receptions overall in his two seasons at Sequoias are the second-most in program history.

Faker completed 29 of 40 passes for 341 yards, raising his season totals to 264 completions, 426 attempts and 3,193 yards, all school single-season records.

Flanigan finished with six catches for 113 yards.

Sanders caught  six passes for 55 yards, pushing his season total 60, breaking the school record of 59 set by Kevin Elijah in 2012.

Defensively, Josiah Paaga (West Seattle, Wash.) led the way with 10 tackles, including one for a loss of yards.

Gavin Silene (Gilbert, Ariz) had eight tackles, while Mark Pullman (Santa Maria) and Tuputala made six apiece.

Sequoias' seven wins are its most since going 7-4 in 2006. The Giants haven't won eight games in a season since 2005.

"Our guys have a lot to play for," Mendonca said. "We have a chance to do some things this season that haven't been done here in awhile. Our guys are going to be ready for that challenge. They will be ready to play, that is for sure."