The second-seeded Laney College football team advanced to the Northern California Regional championship game by defeating No. 3-seed College of San Mateo 14-0 in a NorCal semifinal game played Nov. 17 at Cabrillo College.
The game, initially to be played at Laney, was moved to Cabrillo due to poor air quality in Oakland.
The championship game is scheduled to be played Saturday, Nov. 24 at Laney. Game time is 6 p.m. The Eagles’ opponent will be No. 4 seed Fresno City College, which upset top-seeded Butte College 29-26 on Nov. 17.
The victor will play the winner of the Riverside College-Ventura College Southern California title game. The California Community Colleges Athletic Association state championship game will be played at Hughes Stadium at Sacramento City College on Dec. 8 at 1 p.m.
This is the first time Laney has advanced to the NorCal championship game. Last year, the Eagles qualified for the NorCal regional, but lost at American River College 41-35 in the semifinals.
The Eagles (9-2) scored two touchdowns in the second quarter and utilized a stingy defensive effort to stifle CSM (8-3).
The teams battled to a 0-0 tie in the first quarter. Laney drove down to the CSM 9 on its opening drive, but a lost fumble on 4th-and-goal negated the drive.
The Eagles got on the scoreboard with an 11-play, 42-yard drive in the second quarter, quarterback Jordon Brookshire (Cardinal Newman High School-Santa Rosa) scoring on a 1-yard plunge with 10:10 left in the period.
The big play on the drive was a 13-yard pass from Brookshire to El-Joshua Allen (Washington HS-Fremont) on 4th-and-2 from the CSM 34.
Laney’s next chance came after linebacker Josh Bolding (Alameda HS) intercepted a pass and returned it five yards to the Bulldogs’ 30.
It took the Eagles four plays to go 30 yards. Brookshire threw a 13-yard scoring pass to Angelo Garrett (McClymonds HS), who made a leaping catch in the end zone with 1:13 remaining in the half. Isaak Parada (Arroyo HS) kicked the PAT for 14-0.
Neither team did much offensively in the second half. The Laney defense made the Bulldogs’ passing game virtually disappear as their two quarterbacks completed just five of 24 passes for 65 yards and were sacked six times.
CSM had 130 yards of total offense; the Eagles finished with 245 yards.
Bolding had a monster game for Laney on defense with 11 solo tackles (12 overall) and three sacks. He also had five tackles-for-loss (TFL) for 79 yards and had one interception.
Linebacker Armani Turner-Jenkins (Berkeley HS) had seven solo tackles (eight overall) and defensive lineman Ramone Sanders (McClymonds HS) had two sacks and two TFL. Defensive lineman Timmy Dorsey (McClymonds HS) had the other sack.
Ticket prices for the Fresno City College-Laney College game will $12 for general admission and $8 for students, staff, faculty with ID, children under 12 and seniors.
NOTES—The victory was Laney’s first over College of San Mateo since 2001…the Eagles defeated Fresno City College 30-23 in 2017…Laney’s last shutout was on Nov. 15, 2013, when it beat Sacramento City College 68-0…FCC holds a 12-7 advantage in games played vs. Laney…The Eagles lost to CSM 27-18 on Oct. 19.
This is perhaps the biggest game Laney has played on its home field. In 1966, the Eagles defeated City College of San Francisco 35-13 in the Prune Bowl at San Jose State before an estimated 12,000 fans. CCSF was led by NFL Hall of Fame running back O.J. Simpson.
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By Scott A. Strain, Laney College Sports Information
