COS roundup: Football falls to Reedley College
College of the Sequoias football dropped a conference game, 25-22, to rival Reedley College on Oct. 22. Reedley scored the go-ahead touchdown in the last 30 seconds of play.
Although the game ended heartbreakingly for the Giants, COS overall had a well-played game in all three phases of football.
Regarding passing, quarterback Nathan Lamb (Tulare Union) finished the day with a 14-of-24 completion rate along with 138 total passing yards.
Wide receivers William James (Tulare Union), Anthony Valencia (Mt. Whitney), and Jake Tarwater (South Lake Tahoe) caught a combined 132 yards, with James leading the team in 61 receiving yards on five catches.
The team combined for 231 rushing yards on Saturday. Running back Danny Olivera (Firebaugh) led the team in rushing yards with 99 on 16 carries, followed by Aidan Galvan (Monache) with 68 yards and Lamb with 55.
Regarding defense, linebacker Lonnie Wessel (Golden West) led the team in solo tackles with five, and defensive lineman Michael Machado had the most tackles for loss, getting two for a loss of three yards. Defensive lineman Jamar Knox (Gadsen County) registered the only sack of the game for a loss of seven yards.
In total, the team had 49 tackles, with five leading to a loss in yardage of 16 yards overall.
Head coach Travis Burkett commented after the game on how the team will learn from this loss and work toward the rest of the season,
“The thing everyone needs to understand about what we’re doing with this team and this program is that we’re process-oriented. And process, over time, leads to consistent results. And when you win, you can get complacent, and when you lose, you can get [discouraged]. So what we’re focusing on right now is digesting all of the corrections from this game and applying them in relation to what we’re doing with our next opponent.”
COS will move onto next week, where they will play at home against Sacramento City College on Oct. 29 at 1 p.m.
Men’s soccer
COS won both games this week, with the first victory coming against Modesto College 4-0 on Oct. 18 and the second against American River 3-1 on Oct. 21.
In the first game of the week against Modesto, Leonardo Marquez-Ram (El Diamante) and Ramon Meraz (Mission Oak) scored two goals to make up the 4-0 victory.
In the second game of the week, Joshua Aguirre-Ramos (Orange Cove), Marco Jasso (Tulare Union), and Marquez-Ramirez scored one goal each to add to the 3-1 final score line. Featured in this game was Jasso’s first goal of his career at COS, and Aguirre scored his team-leading ninth goal.
Head coach Renato Bustamante contributed this win to the headspace of his players during the week: “[I’m proud of] The winning mentality. We’re heading now into the second round of conference on a 3-0 streak, which hopefully gives us some momentum to be able to get some tough results we need coming into the rest of the year.”
Their next home game will take place on Nov. 1 against Merced at 2 p.m.
Women’s soccer
COS bounced back from a poor performance two weeks ago to win both games this week, scoring five goals in each of their victories. They defeated Merced College on Oct. 18, 5-0, and followed that with a 5-2 win against West-Hills Lemoore on Oct. 21.
In the first game of the week against Merced, Idania Macias (El Diamante) scored a hat trick with three goals on the day. Emma Lorenzi (Exeter) and Payton Lapp (Redwood) capped off the day with one goal each.
For the second game of the week, Litsy Munoz (Mission Oak) added in a hat trick of her own to bring the score up to 3-0, followed by a West-Hills own goal and a score from Gissel Mora (Mission oak), which finished off the game.
Volleyball
COS had their win streak snapped at seven this past week after they beat Merced on Oct. 19 and then lost 3-1 against Fresno City on Oct. 21. This is the first time they have lost since Sep. 21, a whole month prior, which was also against Fresno but ended 3-0.
After the game, head coach Kimberly Rix was asked about the difference between the two games against the Rams.
“There is no comparison," Rix said. "I mean, I love volleyball because it can beat any team on any given day, and it’s such a mental sport. In the first round, we played really timidly, and we played not to lose. Tonight, we were going all out, and we were just a completely different team.”
As the coach said, COS battled and tightly contested every one of the four sets played and never lost with more than a six-point margin. However, they still ended with a 3-1 loss and once again were defeated by their in-conference rival.
Against Merced, outside hitter Mia Gilcrest (Redwood) added 31 kills to her ever-growing season total and was followed by Daniela Gonzalez (Delano) with 19 and Yajaira Gahagan (Tulare Union) the third highest with three.
Gilcrest now leads the state in kills with 426, and in kills per set with 5.61.
Their next home game will be on Nov. 9 against Porterville at 6 p.m.
Equestrian
COS had its first competition of the year on Sunday. The Giants took high-point team, beating Stanford, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Davis, Sonoma State, and Reedley College. Taylor Stephens was tied for the high-point rider during the competition.
The Giants won seven first-place ribbons.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: COS roundup: Football falls to Reedley College
