Wonder of wonders, miracles of miracles.
The Laney College football team has defeated City College of San Francisco twice in one season for the first time ever.
The Eagles (9-2) finished their best season since 2007 when they defeated the Rams 49-35 on Dec. 3 in the San Francisco Community College Bowl at CCSF. Laney had previously defeated CCSF 18-13 on Sept. 2 in the season opener in Oakland.
“I think the emphasis of the season is that we started strong and ended strong,” head coach John Beam said. “They played with tremendous enthusiasm and never quit.
“We won two games in the last minute and it just shows that the players kept fighting.”
Laney gained a school-record 652 yards in total offense against CCSF, including 360 yards rushing.
Quarterback Noah Suszckiewicz had his best performance of the season, completing 11 of 20 passes for 257 yards and four touchdowns. Running back Marcel Dancy ran 19 times for 117 yards.
Wide receiver Sean Pinson caught five passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns.
Laney jumped off to a 14-0 lead in the first four minutes of the first quarter. Suszckiewicz threw a 46-yard scoring pass to Pinson just three plays into the game and Ahmari Davis ran 42 yards for another touchdown three minutes later.
But the Eagles couldn’t hold the lead. CCSF came back to score two touchdowns in the latter part of the quarter to tie the game at 14-14.
It stayed that way after a scoreless second quarter, but things really got going in the third quarter when six touchdowns were scored—four in a span of less than three minutes.
Suszckiewicz threw an 86-yard TD pass to Pinson for a 20-14 lead with 7:46 left in the quarter and, after a CCSF fumble, then threw a 41-yard scoring pass to Michael Maxwell for a 27-14 lead with 7:25 left.
After another CCSF turnover, Suszckiewicz threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game, this one of 3 yards to Bryce Grandison with 5:31 left for a 34-14 lead.
The score stood for 13 seconds. Namane Modise ran the ensuing kickoff back 90 yards for the Rams to cut the lead to 34-21. CCSF scored again with 1:18 left in the period and all of a sudden Laney was clinging to a 34-28 lead.
But on the first play from scrimmage after that score, Laney running back John McDonald ran a scintillating 70 yards for a touchdown with 1:02 left in the period to extend the lead to 40-28. McDonald evaded three CCSF defenders inside the 10-yard line before scoring.
The Rams cut the lead to 40-35 with 14:35 left in the fourth quarter, but Suszckiewicz scored on a 1-yard run with 7:45 left in the game to push the Laney lead to 47-35 and give the Eagles a little breathing room.
From that point on, the Eagles defense stiffened and forced a safety with 4:02 left in the game that gave Laney the final two points of the game.
