The No. 2 Riverside City College football season ended at the hands of the No. 1 Mt. San Antonio College Mounties in the Southern California Football Association Championship game Dec. 7.
Down by two with 13 seconds left on the Mounties’ 33-yard line, Tigers redshirt sophomore quarterback Brady Jones looked down the field and fired a pass to sophomore receiver Kaden Willerford beyond the first down marker that he dropped to seal the deal for the Mounties win at Hilmer Lodge Stadium.
The decision to go for it came after the Tigers seemed in ideal field goal range at the Mountie 23-yard line after freshman receiver Dominic Cox made an acrobatic catch off a deflection from a Mountie defender that he took for 53 yards. Three plays that resulted in no yards gained and two penalties stunted RCC’s momentum and knocked them back 10 yards.
“I don’t think we had the highest percentage change on the kick there,” Jones said. “We’re just trying to get a first down there so we can kick it from the 15 or 20 instead of the 30. It’s tough but not everything is going to go your way, we just have to deal with it.”
Both teams traded blows in the first half, with the Tigers down six at halftime. RCC’s usual air raid-style offense took a back seat in this one as a physical Mountie defense neutralized their top targets.
“For me, I drew three pass interferences, so they were being physical,” sophomore wide receiver Jackson Owens said. “They did a good job switching it up so it made it tough getting into our usual pass concepts, so we just stuck with the run.”
The Tigers would find success in the ground game with sophomore running back Devyne Pearson rushing for over 100 yards and three touchdowns on the night. Jones also added another touchdown on the ground as he was the second-leading rusher with 29 yards on seven attempts.
In the second half, both teams engaged in a defensive battle with multiple three-and-outs. Tigers’ sophomore defensive lineman Esaia Bogar led the pack with 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack.
“Our overall objective was to stop number five (running back Devin Miles) and I feel like we did that pretty well,” Bogar said. “But the defense crumbled in the first half with mistakes and penalties.”
Special teams played a factor for both teams as Mountie kicker Jacob Bonilla missed two field goals and an extra point before being substituted for Matthew Fidone, who eventually delivered the game-winning 48-yard field goal.
The Tigers again struggled on special teams, which was an underlying theme throughout the season. Mt. Sac returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the first quarter and consistently took the ball to midfield on ensuing kickoffs.
Riverside was penalized 17 times for 110 yards. The penalties, which had nagged the Tigers all season, ultimately caught up to them in the end as they knocked them out of potential game-winning field goal range for kicker Luis Marin.
“Penalties killed us I think we were one of the most penalized teams in California,” Bogar said. “I’m not too surprised that we lost because of the penalties especially when you compare our penalties to theirs.”
Owens noted that struggles on the kicking side played a factor in the coach’s decision to go for it. “At the end of the day, Coach Craft made that ultimate decision to throw it, so we rolled with it.”
The Tigers’ quest to repeat came to an end after a historic offensive season wasn’t enough to propel them back to the California Community Colleges Athletic Association Championship Game.
Standouts Bogar and Jones reflected on their time in the black and orange.
“Riverside has definitely changed me as a person. I’m very thankful I came here and play for Riverside,” Bogar said.
“It was a great experience here, I love the coaches and all my surrounding cast,” Jones said. “I wouldn’t ask for anyone else. I would recommend this place to anyone. I’d even tell my kids to go here even if we lived across the country.”
Tempers flared in the Riverside postgame huddle as the team decided to leave the field without any further discussion. All RCC coaches declined to comment.
“It gets tough in the heat of the moment, but we trust our coaches and we went out there and did the best we could,” Owens said.
“It’s tough it had to end this way, but I loved every second of it,” Jones said.
