REDDING, Calif. – Sacramento City College scored on four of its first five possessions to down host Shasta College 40-28 Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Despite the Panthers jumping out to a 19-0 lead, the Knights rallied in the second half behind a pair of touchdown passes from Eli Wehbey to Eli Cortinas and Jahari Johnson to cut the deficit to five. But Sacramento City scored 30 seconds later on a 75-yard touchdown pass from Sean Nixon to Kevin Adams to pull away. Shasta never pulled within 12 the rest of the way.
Shasta held the edge in first downs (21-18), plays (67-53), third down conversions (6-2) and time of possession by 1 minute, 10 seconds. However, Wehbey, who threw a touchdown pass to three different receivers, threw three interceptions and the rushing game never got going, totaling 28 yards on 23 attempts.
Sacramento City scored on field goals of 41 and 37 yards and Nixon found Jackson Tallent-Burl for 52 yards and Jacob Stewart for a 34-yard touchdown.
Richard Turner returned the ensuing kickoff 78 yards and Cortinas found pay dirt on a 4-yard run four plays later to trail 19-7 at halftime.
Nixon threw his third touchdown pass to Scott Nixon to go up 26-7. Wehbey finished a seven-play drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Cortinas and Shasta followed with a 14-play drive, ending with a 17-yard scoring toss from Wehbey to Johnson.
But Adams scored on the next play from scrimmage and Tallent-Burl put the game out of reach with an 8-yard run. Hakeem Lowe scored on a 24-yard touchdown pass in the final two minutes.
Wehbey completed 27 of 44 passes for 312 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Johnson had 136 receiving yards on 11 receptions, which is tied for fifth-most in a single game in Knights history. Lowe had seven catches for 95 yards and Cortinas finished with 36 rushing yards on 15 attempts and 18 yards on five catches.
Gavin Skerik totaled a game-best 12 tackles, including three for a loss. Javon Edwards had seven tackles, Jaylin Watson had four tackles and Tanner Dobeck had four tackles and a sack. Trey Meredith also had a sack.
Shasta wraps up non-conference play 1-4 overall and plays at American River College on Saturday, Oct. 14.
GAME NOTES
Jahari Johnson has had two games with 11 receptions this season, which is tied for fifth-most in a single game in Knights history … Johnson ranks second in the state with 42 receptions and his 499 receiving yards is fifth in the state … Johnson's 42 receptions rank 21 st in a single season for the Knights … Eli Wehbey's 27 completions is tied for sixth in single-game and his 44 passing attempts were 12 th most in a single game … Wehbey ranks among the state leaders, third in completions (3 rd), fourth in attempts (181), sixth in yards (1,275) and sixth in interceptions (7).