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Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009

Sean Lynch: Merced College goes all out for a cause

It's not often that colors other than blue and gold dominate the Merced College campus.

Last Friday evening was an exception.

Lady Devils volleyball coach Jessica Casey and her squad had requested a pink out for the team's sixth annual Breast Cancer Awareness match against West Hills, and the MC faithful delivered.

"There was pink in all shades, everywhere," said Casey. "There were pink balloons. Almost the entire crowd was in pink. The president of the school showed up in a pink T-shirt.

"It was really great to see. We had 75 shirts made up for the match and we sold 74 of them, which we're really proud of."

The fans weren't the only ones rocking the pink theme.

Lady Devils players wore pink shoelaces, wristbands, head bands and had special warm-up tops of pink and MC's traditional navy blue made up for the match.

"The girls really embraced the event," Casey said. "I think every one of them has known someone affected by breast cancer."

The night's crowd was particularly impressive given that it was going up against high school football. All proceeds from the night were donated to the Golden Valley Health Center's Women of Courage program.

And as an added bonus for the crowd, MC turned in one of its most convincing performances of the season with a 25-12, 25-17, 26-24 victory over West Hills.

"The girls have been playing much better recently, and I think they really responded to the crowd energy in the building," Casey said.

If you're not going to make a catch until the sixth game of the season, you might as well make sure your first one is something special.

That's the way it went for Merced College wide receiver Will Stewart.

The freshman from San Diego has slowly worked his way up the Blue Devil depth chart and began seeing his playing time go up.

He cashed in on his increased workload against Chabot last Saturday, hauling in an 8-yard pass from Brendan Crawford for his first career reception and touchdown.

The catch gave MC a 14-7 lead and sparked a three-touchdown explosion in a 1-minute, 10-second span.

The MC women's water polo team's 10-9 loss to Foothill College at the beginning of October was a definite setback, but coach Bill Halpin believes it won't trip the Lady Devils up.

Halpin firmly believes that MC is going to make history one way or another this season.

The Lady Devils will still have an opportunity to avenge its loss and secure its first Coast Conference title in school history at the conference tournament.

Should that scenario take on water and sink, Halpin still believes MC's resume is strong enough to earn it an at-large berth into NorCals.

It would be the first time any team from the Coast Conference made the tournament as an at-large.

Merced College isn't the only football team in the Golden Gate Conference that's getting major production from Merced County talent.

Former Merced receiver Carlos Acosta and former Los Banos running back Casey Cotta have become big parts of Modesto Junior College's high-powered offense.

Acosta leads the Pirates with 33 receptions and has three total touchdowns on the year.

Cotta has 277 rushing yards on a team-high 87 attempts and four touchdowns.

Sean Lynch is a Sun-Star sports writer. He can be reached at 385-2476 or via e-mail at slynch@mercedsun-star.com.