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Monday, Oct. 05, 2009

Backup's hot start cools as Merced College football falls to Feather River

QUINCY -- College football can be a cruel game. Just ask Justin Fausone.

The Merced College sophomore had a dream start to his college debut, tying the score with a touchdown pass in his first series after entering in relief of starting quarterback Juan Diaz in the third quarter.

But the dream quickly turned into a nightmare as Feather River intercepted four Fausone passes down the stretch to pull out a 23-16 victory on Saturday afternoon.

"As the game went on, Juan started to show his inexperience and I think he got a little rattled," Merced College coach Mark Kaanapu said. "He wasn't getting what we were trying to tell him, so we wanted him to see things from the sideline for a little bit to get some perspective.

"Justin came in and threw a touchdown pass and it kind of sparked us, so we stuck with him.

"When we got down to the fourth quarter, it seemed like too much to ask of Juan to come back in, in that situation."

Fausone, who'd redshirted the Blue Devils' first four games, was added to the roster last week after Brendan Crawford, the starting quarterback at the beginning of the season, suffered a knee injury against Reedley and backup Jeremy Jacobo left the team.

It turned out he'd be needed right away.

Diaz was effective initially for MC (2-3) in his first college start, leading the Blue Devils into the redzone on four of their seven first-half possessions.

MC unfortunately couldn't punch any of those chances into the end zone and had to settle for three Fabian Miramontes field goals.

Feather River (2-3) didn't produce as many yards in the opening half as MC, but was far more opportunistic with its chances.

Feather River turned a short field into a Deon Turner 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and Jamar Brown hauled in a 66-yard pass from Shakur Pontoon to take a 16-9 lead into halftime.

Diaz exited after MC's second possession of the second half.

With the MC offense out of rhythm, Feather River went for the kill. Pontoon drove the Golden Eagles down to the MC 33, but was intercepted and returned to the Feather River 41 by linebacker Tim Tisdale.

Tisdale also had a team-high nine tackles as did fellow linebacker David Delatorre.

Three plays after Tisdale's interception, Fausone tied the score at 16-16 with a 35-yard touchdown pass to Andy Benavides.

The Golden Eagles answered with a 31-yard touchdown run by Turner in the fourth quarter and Fausone was intercepted on four of MC's final five possessions, two of which came inside of the Feather River 25-yard line.

"One of the things we asked of the players was would they compete and play hard for four quarters," Kaanapu said. "I was really proud of how the kids responded.

"We were right there, with a chance to get it done at the end of the game and that was disappointing. One of the things we're really going to work on during the bye week is our finishing. It's going to have to improve if we're going to do well in Conference."