Inconsistency on all sides of the ball led to the Santa Rosa Junior College Bear Cubs second loss in a row after the Fresno City College Rams beat them 31-10 on Sept. 9 at Bailey Field.
The Bear Cubs [0-2] kept the game close in the first half. They put together one successful drive in first quarter matching Fresno and entered the second quarter with the game tied 7-7.
In the second quarter, SRJC only had one long drive ending in a made field goal, but The Hawks were able to score their second touchdown giving them a 14-10 lead at halftime.
The game was decided in the first five minutes of the second half. The Rams unleashed their rushing attack and SRJC could not stop it. Fresno ended the game with 302 yards rushing on 43 attempts.
The Rams used their rushing advantage to drive easily down the field and opened the second half with a touchdown off a 10-yard pass. They followed that with a forced fumble recovery and scored quickly with a 30-yard field goal.
Before the Bear Cubs could blink they were losing 24-10.
On the ensuing kickoff, Fresno stripped the ball from SRJC and returned it for a touchdown giving The Hawks a 31-10 lead, more than enough to win the game.
A large part of the inconsistency on SRJC’s offense was due to the constant switching at quarterback. Freshman quarterback Jordon Brookshire started the game, but within a couple drives, the team switched to it’s other freshman quarterback, Kaylor Sullivan.
“If you go three-and-out, you’re looking at only six reps for who knows how long,” Brookshire said. “If you get the drive going, you get a little more, but yeah, it’s a little frustrating.”
Sullivan was also frustrated with this rotation but knows he could’ve played better.
“I felt like I played good, but I didn’t get my team in situations to score sometimes,” Sullivan said.
Head Coach Lenny Wagner knows the team will not be successful without a definitive starter at quarterback.
“We have two freshmen that have been battling, and we wanted to give them equal opportunity to see who is going to respond well under pressure,” Wagner said. “We gotta make a decision and go with a guy we are going to roll with.”
Wagner is coming off a season where he had a very successful team led by a group of sophomores who many believe were overlooked for a playoff spot last year.
This year’s team is younger and does not look like it will nearly match last season’s caliber.
“We’re really young and we’re learning,” Wagner said. “We got a lot of guys who made huge strides from last week to this week, and we just gotta keep doing that. If we make big strides every week I still believe in this football team, and I believe in our players.”
The Bear Cubs will face off against San Joaquin Delta at 1 p.m. Sept. 16 in Stockton.
“We beat them last year. We just gotta prepare,” said sophomore free safety Conner Sosa.
