Football Archive 2001

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10th Anniversary Football Squad 1951-1960

2001

2001 Shasta College Knight's Football Team
Rewarded Knights
CATANESE, CHURCH & WELDON LEAD THE WAY
(12/19/01-Shasta College) Several Knights were rewarded for having an outstanding season on the football field. Heading the list are Brandon Catanese, Steve Church and Andy Weldon. Defensive back/return specialist, Brandon Catanese, has signed a full ride scholarship to attend Oregon State University. Center, Steve Church, has signed a full ride scholarship to continue his football career at the University of Nevada-Reno. Tight end, Andy Weldon, also signed a full ride scholarship to attend Boise State University. Offensive lineman, Jasper Hickman, also received a full tuition scholarship to attend Western Washington, a Division II school.
One Great Half
COX TIES RECEPTION RECORD
(11/10/01-Shasta College) Saturday night at Shasta College (4-5) was a tale of two halves. The first half saw the Knights play inspired football and take a 22-14 lead into the locker room. Unfortunately the Knight's 7 turnovers caught up with them in the second half and the Knights lost to Sac City (5-3), 33-24. The turnovers, 5 fumbles and 2 interceptions, were just too big of a hurdle to overcome. The game might have turned on two big plays near the end of the first quarter. The Knights were up 13-0 and going for more. Shasta had just recovered an on side kick and had the ball on the Sac City 5 yard line. Momentum was all green and white. The Knights fumbled trying to score and Sac City recovered on the their own two yard line. On Sac City's first play they connected on a 98 yard bomb to get back into the game. So instead of the Knights being up 20-0, their lead was only 13-7. The Knights again continued to self-destruct with turnovers in the red zone, especially in the second half, and Sac City slowly took command. Shasta's all-world receiver, Mike Cox, had his usual great game. Mike caught 8 passes for 182 yards to tie Jason Sehorn's career record of 115 receptions. Mike has caught 53 passes for 795 yards and 8 touchdowns this season. Damarcus Ingram ended up with 109 yards on 20 carries. Oscar Nero, playing in place of the injured Oscar Rigg, chipped in with 96 yards on 12 carries. If yards were points the Knights would have been in great shape. The Knights ended the game with 206 yards rushing and 279 yards passing for 485 total yards.
Comeback Comes up Short
DAMARCUS INGRAM WITH 153 YARDS RUSHING
(11/3/01-Shasta College) The Knights did not have enough comeback in themselves this week against Butte College. Despite a great game from Damarcus Ingram, 30 carries for 153 yards, the Knights found themselves on the short end of a 46-21 loss. The Knights played Butte even in the first quarter and second half, it was the second quarter when the Knights could not keep up. The Knights outscored Butte in the second half, 14-6. Knight's star receiver, Mike Cox, had his usual big game, catching 6 passes for 81 yards and one touchdown. Mike now has 107 career receptions leaving him only 8 behind Hall of Famer, Jason Sehorn of the N.F.L. New York Giants. Last year Mike broke Jason's single season reception mark of 59 when he ended the season with 62 catches. This year with two games remaining Mike has 45 receptions to again lead the Knight receivers.
Big Comeback Tops COS
INGRAM, COX, NELSON & DEFENSE LEAD THE WAY
(10/27/01-Weed) The Knights (4-3) put a big comeback on COS (1-6) Saturday in Weed. Down in the second quarter 20-6, the Knights rallied in the second half for a 30-23 win. The Knights almost ran out of time for their comeback. Quarterback Kyle Nelson hooked up with Mike Cox for a 16 yard touchdown pass with 7 seconds left on the clock to finally put the Knights into the lead. On the play Mike was pushed out of bounds but managed to get back on the field of play in time to catch Nelson's pass. Damarcus Ingram had a big game on the ground with 23 carries for 169 yards for the Knights. The defense also turned in a comeback of sorts. COS had a good first quarter piling up over 100 yards. But in the entire second half they were held to less than 100 total yards. Kyle Nelson finished 22-29 for 258 yards and two touchdowns. More importantly on the Knight's last drive he completed 6 passes in a row to help complete the comeback. The Knights ended the game with 440 yards of offense while holding COS to 282 total yards. Next up on Saturday, November 4th,
is Butte College (4-3) who comes to memorial Stadium for a 7:00 PM kickoff. Butte College was beaten by San Francisco City College this past weekend
50-13.
Santa Rosa Too Offensive
INGRAM & RIGG BOTH OVER 120+ YARDS
(10/20/01-Santa Rosa) Despite getting more than 120 yards each from their talented running backs, the Knights (3-3, 0-1) still lost to Santa Rosa Junior College (5-1, 1-0) on Saturday, 48-26. After staying close in the first half, only down 20-13, the Knights could not keep up in the second. Santa Rosa quarterback, Tony Keefer, was the main reason that the Knights could not keep up. He finished the game 27-40 passing for 377 yards. Oscar Rigg led the Knights on the ground with 129 yards on 20 carries. Damarcus Ingram was close behind with 121 yards on 19 carries. Shasta quarterbacks David Dillinger and Kyle Nelson were a combined 16 of 27 for 174 yards through the air. Mike Cox led the Shasta receivers with 6 catches for 64 yards. The Knights will try to get back on track next Saturday when they travel to Weed for a 1:00 PM game with College of the Siskiyous.
Knights Trample Yuba
DEFENSE WITH THREE INTERCEPTIONS
(10/13/01-Marysville) The Shasta Knights (3-2) took out a little frustration on the Yuba College 49ers (3-3) on Saturday. The frustration stems from earlier games this year when the Knight's offense has lacked consistency. Yuba found out how good the Knights can be, especially running the football. The Knights rushed 54 times for 299 yards and five touchdowns in a 35-6 thumping of the 49ers. Leading the way on the ground was the Knight's talented duo of Oscar Rigg and Damarcus Ingram. Oscar rushed for 118 yards on 20 carries and scored 2 touchdowns and Damarcus added 108 yards on 17 carries and one touchdown. Avry Young added 54 yards on 11 carries while Oscar Nero chipped in with 22 yards on only 3 carries and he scored from 11 yards out. The other rushing touchdown came from David Dillinger who ran around right end and scored a 5 yard touchdown. Kyle Nelson and David Dillinger shared the quarterback duties each completing 6 passes, throwing for a combined 169 yards. Their two favorite targets were Oscar Rigg, who caught 4 pass for 32 yards, and Mike Cox, who snagged 3 for 70 yards. The Knight's defense came to play, limiting Yuba to 127 yards rushing and only 41 yards passing for 168 total yards. The Knights also intercepted 3 Yuba passes to help stop 49er drives. Shasta led 21-0 at half-time. In this rivalry dating back to 1951, the Knights have now beaten Yuba 9 out of their last 10 meetings.
Overtime Heartbreaker
OUTGAIN REDWOODS BY OVER 135 YDS
(9/29/01-Shasta College) Despite controlling time of possession and out gaining Redwoods in net yards, the Knights (2-2) came up short in overtime, losing to the Corsairs (2-2) for the first time in 4 games, 28-27. The Knights had a chance to tie the game and send it to a second overtime but a high snap through off the timing of the holder and kicker and the kick was missed to the left. Throughout most of the game the Knights had no trouble moving up and down the field, the trouble they did have was turning the yards into points. The Knights had a net of 437 total yards with 264 on the ground. The ground game was led by #6 Oscar Rigg with 167 yards on 25 carries. Redwoods managed 299 yards of total offense with only 87 on the ground. There is a saying in athletics that, "the best team does not always win the game, it is the team that plays the best that wins." In this game the Knights "looked" like they were the best team but when you don't convert on big plays, when you throw in several key penalties and when you don't convert on a point after touchdown you will have a hard time beating a team that you should beat. That is exactly what happened to the Knights on Saturday night. Having a big game for the Shasta receiving corps was #10, Ryan Clayton. On a night when his older brother, Richie, was inducted into the Shasta College Hall of Fame, Ryan had his best game as a Knight, catching 11 passes for 90 yards. The Knights have a bye next week and then travel to Marysville for a game against Yuba College on 10/13/01. The Knights next 3 games are all on the road and they are all day games.
Rigg, Young & Cox
TRIO LEAD SECOND HALF WAKE-UP
(9/22/01-Shasta College) When your best players play well your team usually has success. That is exactly what happened Saturday night when the Knights scored 42 points in the second half to easily pull away from Los Medanos College and win, 48-17. The Knights best players had some good numbers, especially in the second half. Knight running backs Oscar Rigg and Avry Young did the damage on the ground while Knight record setting receiver, Mike Cox, did it through the air. Their numbers: Rigg 18 rushes for 100 yards and 3 touchdowns, Young only 8 rushes for 108 yards and also three touchdowns and Mike Cox added 6 catches for 154 yards and one touchdown. For the Knights it was a story of two halves. In the first half the Knights looked like anything but a good team. The Mustangs where running through Knight tacklers and the Knight offense looked like it had not practice in several days. The main Mustang running through the Shasta defense was Mustang running back, Bryan Hinton. The Mustang running back carried the ball 20 times for 106 yards in the first half alone. The Knight offense could not find it's running game and only managed minus 7 yards rushing and 55 yards passing in the first half. Whatever half time speech Head Coach Craig Thompson gave the troops he should remember it and save it for another game. The Knights came out of the locker room and scored touchdowns on it's first six possessions of the second half. Quarterback, Kyle Nelson, also played well for the Knights completing 14 of 24 for 226 yards with no interceptions. The Shasta Defense also played like a different team in the second half keeping the Mustangs completely out of the endzone. Los Medanos' lone score came on a kickoff return.
Reedley Prevails
FIFTH DAY GAME IN 26 YEARS
(9/15/01-Shasta College) For only the fifth time in the last 26 years the Knights played a home game during the day. After looking at the results the Knights might want to go back to night games only. For the second straight week the Knights found themselves down early in a game. This week it was 12-0 in the first half. Last week the Knights scored 3 touchdowns in the last 12 minutes of their game to win against Mendocino College, 28-21. This week the Knights had no such magic, losing 26-13 to Reedley College. The biggest difference between games might be Reedley's defense. Against Mendocino College in game one, the Knights rushed for almost 300 yards. But against Reedley's defense the Knights could only muster 53 yards on the ground. Oscar Rigg again led the Knights with 44 yards on 18 carries. The Knights had several chances to get back into the game but several penalties put an end to any comeback thoughts. The Knights are home again for its next two games hosting Los Medanos next Saturday night at the more usual 7:00 PM starting time.
Knights Ranked 7th in NorCal
BRANDON CATANESE STATE PLAYER OF THE WEEK!
(9/12/01-Shasta College) The Shasta College Knights were rewarded for their come from behind victory over Mendocino last Saturday. The new California Community College Football poll has the Knights ranked 7th in Northern California, up from the 9th spot last week. Other Knight opponents ranked in the poll are, Sac City 3rd, Santa Rosa 4th, Redwoods 8th, Yuba 9th, and Butte with their loss drops, from 4th to 13th. Also rewarded for an outstanding game was Knight's cornerback, #1 Brandon Catanese from Trinity High School. Brandon was named one of the state players of the week for his outstanding game which included, 7 unassisted tackles, 7 assisted tackles and a blocked field goal. Great Job Brandon!
Another Big Comeback
THIS YEAR FROM 14 POINTS DOWN!
(9/8/01-Ukiah) For the second year in a row the Knights put a big comeback on Mendocino to win their season opener, this time 28-21. Last season the Knights found themselves down 18-10 entering the fourth quarter. The final score ended up 39-30, in the Knights favor however. This year the deficit was even larger, 21-7 with 12 minutes to go in the game. Getting their running game in high gear was a key to the comeback. Oscar Rigg was one of the second half keys as he stepped up his play and helped carried the Knights to the big opening game win. After getting back into the game at 21-13 the Knights defense stiffened and gave the offense another chance to get some points. Mike Cox took a short pass from Kyle Nelson into the end zone for their next touchdown, Knights were now down by two, 21-19. Then came one of the plays of the game. With the Knights going for the two point conversion and the possible tie game, all looked lost when it seemed a Mendocino tackler was about to sack the Knight's quarterback, Kyle Nelson. But making a great athletic move the Knight's quarterback spun completely around (with the tackler still around his waist) and found an open Beau McCoy in the end zone for the game tying two points. Then with less than 2 minutes remaining in the game the Eagles gave the Knights a gift. A high snap from center, in the shotgun formation, sailed past the Mendocino quarterback allowing the hard charging Knights to recover the fumble ( Lamont Potter to be exact) only 15 yards from the end zone and the victory. With Oscar Rigg doing the majority of the work the Knights were able to score with 17 seconds remaining to secure the victory. Oscar Rigg finished the game with 23 carries for 139 yards and two touchdowns while the Knights other talented running back, Damascus Ingram, added 152 yards on only 14 carries and one touchdown. Freshman quarterback, Kyle Nelson, was 15-25 for 138 yards with one touchdown to wide receiver Mike Cox. The Knights are home for their next three games with next Saturday's game a rare 1:00 PM start. Reedley College requested the time change because of the distance they have to drive after the game. Reedley College is about 310 miles South of Redding!
Knights On the Radio
Newstalk 1400 KQMS
VIETTI & THARALSON RETURN
(8/27/01-Shasta College) When you think of Shasta College football and the radio, the first thought that comes to mind is Vietti & Tharalson. Paul Vietti (color commentator), who has covered Shasta College football for seven years, and George Tharalson (play by play commentator), who has covered Shasta football for four years, return to cover all of the Knight's football games live for 2001. Broadcasts begin 30 minutes prior to kickoff time. So if you can't make the game, tune in your AM radio dial to, Newstalk 1400 KQMS and get the game live!
Scholarship Knights
MERRITT, JONES, CHAPPELL, OPHEIKENS, HARRINGTON & INGRAM
(4/12/01-Shasta College) Several Knights were rewarded for having outstanding football seasons last year. Recording setting quarterback, Brian Jones, and two-year all-conference defensive player, Kameron Merritt head the list of "scholarship" Knights heading to four year schools. Brian Jones accepted a full ride scholarship to attend the University of Toledo in Ohio. The University of Toledo "Rockets" open their 2001 season by hosting the University of Minnesota "Golden Gophers." Last year Toledo finished the season 10-1, with victories over Penn State and Marshall. Kameron Merritt, a standout all-conference defensive player, accepted a full ride to Boise State University in Idaho to play for the "Broncos." Knight defensive back, Eric Chappell, will be finishing his football career at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM. The "Cowboys" open the 2001 season against the U.C. Davis "Aggies." Eric had an outstanding season last year intercepting 5 passes for the Knights. Standout defensive tackle, Jake Opheikens, accepted a full ride to Portland State University in Oregon. Star left tackle, Josh Harrington from Red Bluff High School, is bound for New Mexico State University. Running back, Marcus Ingram from Foothill High School, is head to the University of Mary, a NAIA school in South Dakota.
NFL Calling Ricky Ray??
RICKY RAY & HIS "RAY GUN" COULD BE NFL BOUND
(4/11/01-Redding) Former Shasta College great, Ricky Ray, could be in the news again soon. Ricky has a chance to be drafted by an NFL team during their annual draft. Arguably one of the best to ever play the quarterback position for Shasta College, Ricky is hopeful an NFL team calls him to offer him a job and give him a chance. Ricky would love to follow the footsteps of another Shasta College great into the NFL, Jason Sehorn of the New York football Giants. Jason played wide receiver for the Knights in 1990 & 1991. Ricky played for the Knights in 1997 & 1998 and finished his college career on a full ride scholarship at CSU-Sacramento. Anyone who has seen Ricky play knows that he is an exceptional athlete and anyone who knows Ricky knows that he is an exceptional person as well. When Ricky has time in the pocket he could shred a defense with the best of them, just ask Butte College or Merced College. Against Merced College in 1998 Ricky was nearly perfect. He completed 36 of 47 passes (without an interception!), helped the Knights win the game 73-71, (helped set a National record of 144 points in a game by both teams), he tied a national record, and set one state record in the process! (9 touchdowns in one game by a quarterback, 6 passing & 3 rushing). Ricky was never one to worry about statistics however, he just wanted to win. Looking at his college career statistics gives you a perspective of his abilities. Ricky had 699 completion's in 1,146 attempts, he threw for 9,279 yards and 78 touchdowns! All Ricky needs to do to prove he can play at the "next level" is a chance. Hopefully some lucky NFL team will give him that chance on April 21st or 22nd. Make sure you pack the Ray Gun, Ricky!

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