JC football: No. 2 seed American River College hosts CCSF in Northern California playoffs

When American River College lost its only game this season, two months ago at the College of San Mateo, there was immediate discussion of a rematch.

That could happen if the higher seeds prevail Saturday in the opening round of the California Community College 3C2A State Championships.

Defending state champion and preseason No. 1 state-ranked San Mateo (9-1) is the top Northern California seed and will host No. 4 Modesto (7-3) at 12:05 p.m. ARC (9-1) is the No. 2 NorCal seed and will host No. 3 San Francisco (9-1) in the other semifinal.

San Mateo this season defeated ARC 24-23 and San Francisco 44-17 and lost 30-28 to Butte. The Bulldogs are led by JC state Player of the Year candidate Anthony Grigsby, a dynamic freshman quarterback from Cosumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove. He has 2,660 yards passing and 26 touchdowns to go with three rushing scores.

The higher seed will host the NorCal regional final on Dec. 2. The Southern California bracket winner will host the state championship game on Dec. 9.

Mt. San Antonio (10-0) of Los Angeles County is the No. 1 seed in the South and hosts No. 4 Riverside City (9-1) on Saturday at 6 p.m. No. 2 Fullerton (10-0) of Orange County hosts No. 3 Ventura (7-3) at noon. Ventura is coached by former Sacramento State coach Steve Mooshagian.

ARC is in the state playoffs under coach Jon Osterhout for the seventh time in nine years since the state format was adopted. The Beavers reached the NorCal finals last season, falling to San Mateo 43-21. ARC won the NorCal title in 2016 and reached the finals in 2017. San Mateo also has history with its opening-round opponent. The Bulldogs beat Modesto 41-0 in the NorCal finals in 2019 and 30-0 in a semifinal last season.

San Francisco is one of the powerhouse programs in state history, though ARC has had success against the Rams before. Known on the JC circuit as CCSF, the Rams won the 2021 state championship, the ninth in program history. Since 1997, San Francisco has finished No. 1 in Northern California or won NorCal titles 16 times. The program has been named the No. 1 JC program in the country 11 times, eight times since 1999, the last in 2021.

Sophomore quarterback Kenny Lueth of Rocklin High School has passed for 1,938 yards and 26 touchdowns with just one interception for ARC in making a sound argument for state honors. Avant Jacobs of Oak Ridge leads the Beavers in rushing with 584 yards. Kacie Riley of Oroville leads ARC with nine rushing touchdowns. Robert Freeman of El Cerrito has eight touchdown catches and Mikaiah Stephenson of Cosumnes Oaks has seven.

Linebacker Josh Tremain of Folsom is third in the state in tackles with 113. Desmin Hatfield-Rushton of Capital Christian leads the Beavers with three interceptions.