REDDING, Calif. – The No. 15 ranked Shasta College football team turned the ball over four times in a 44-27 home loss to No. 5 American River College Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
The Knights took a 27-20 lead early in the third quarter on a 1-yard run from sophomore Matt McCree. But the Beavers scored 24 unanswered points to close out the game, including 10 points off Shasta turnovers to pull away and capture the NorCal Conference championship.
"I'm proud of where the program as headed but disappointed right now because it's one thing to not compete – we did that," said Shasta College head coach Bryon Hamilton. "It's another thing to have a lead in the third quarter against a national caliber team and not finish the deal and not play your best football down the stretch. That's something we have to rectify."
Shasta's first turnover came on the game's opening play from scrimmage on a bad handoff exchange. The Beavers scored on a 22-yard run from Jeremiah Johnson the following play for a quick 7-0 lead.
The Knights found a groove later in the half as quarterback Hokulani Wickard threw a 7-yard fade for a score to Kentrell Petite and finished a 10-play drive with a 1-yard QB sneak for a 14-7 advantage.
ARC took to the air with Marco Baldacchino firing touchdown strikes of 11 and 13 yards to regain the lead 20-14. Wickard was intercepted on a deep pass late in the final seconds of first half but Ivan Smith forced the ARC defender to fumble the ball into the end zone for a Shasta safety. On the safety punt, ARC decided for an onside kick and was penalized for illegal touching, giving Shasta 15 yards on an already short field. The Knights' Matthew Ramirez made a 35-yard field goal on the untimed down to make it a five-point swing to pull within one at 20-19 going into the break.
Rashard Budd forced an ARC fumble to start the third and McCree punched it in five plays later. After a wild 2-point conversion pass to London McCall on a broken play, Shasta led 27-20.
But the lead would change a fifth and final time. Julian Leslie ran a 1-yard touchdown to tie it. Shasta looked like it had an answer but Wickard's third down pass in the red zone was tipped into the hands of ARC's Jamie Cousey, who took it 58 yards into Shasta territory to flip the field. The Knights' defense had Johnson bottled up three plays later, but he slipped through two tackles and ran 27 yards for a score.
The Knights never recovered.
ARC added another passing touchdown from Baldacchino to Naequan Parker and Wickard was intercepted going for it on fourth down from Shasta's own 31. The Beavers finished the scoring with a 20-yard field goal and Shasta couldn't get the ball past midfield again.
"Our D-line isn't happy with how we played, we didn't get the pressure we wanted," said Shasta sophomore defensive end Cole Parker.
Baldacchino threw for 299 yards and three touchdowns on 20-of-30 passing while Shasta's defense held ARC to 2-of-9 on third down.
Wickard was 14-of-31 passing for 123 yards with two total touchdowns and three interceptions. Tyler Boston led the Knights two-headed rushing attack with 17 carries for 96 yards – both game-high's – while McCree ran 14 times for 62 yards. James Lee (59 yards) and Petite (39 yards) had five catches apiece.
Freshman safety Joe Merkel had a game-high 11 tackles while Adonis Thomas and Budd each had seven and a tackle for a loss. Torren Calhoun-Ray had Shasta's lone sack on the night.
Shasta (7-2, 2-2 NorCal) wraps up the regular season at Butte College next week but is eligible for a bowl game, Hamilton said.
STANDINGS
Team NorCal, Overall
[5] American River 4-0, 7-2
[14] Butte 3-1, 6-3
[12] Shasta 2-2, 7-2
Sierra 2-2, 6-3
Feather River 0-3, 0-8
Siskiyous 0-3, 0-8