Blue Devils ready to ramp up the pressure against San Jose as they look to start 2-0
The Merced College defense pressured the two College of Redwoods quarterbacks last week in the season opener, recording six sacks.
The Blue Devils (1-0) hope to do the same on Saturday night when San Jose City College (1-0) comes to Stadium '76. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
The Merced College secondary has to be drooling after seeing the Jaguars throw four interceptions last week.
"Absolutely, that's a big emphasis for us," said Merced College coach Bob Casey. "We want to get around the ball and put pressure on them. It helped us against Redwoods. We had six sacks, but we missed another five. We feel good about the athletes we have up front. That helps us put pressure on the quarterback."
Casey also has to feel good about the Blue Devils offense after the 40-18 win over Redwoods. Quarterback Frank Cocio completed 11-of-19 passes for 228 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 43 yards and scored another touchdown.
Running back Hanisis Lotulelei also rushed for 76 yards and two touchdowns.
"Frank do a good job with the offense," Casey said. "He moved well in the pocket and he extended plays with the run. We were able to throw the ball down field and that prevented them being able to put as many players in the box against us."
Cocio connected on a 59-yard touchdown with Nick Cook and later a 73-yard touchdown with Brandon Sanchez, who hauled in five receptions for 110 yards.
The Blue Devils expect to see an aggressive defense in the Jaguars.
"They move around a lot and the blitz a lot," Casey said. "They don't let you settle in too much. They try to cause confusion with all the moving around and blitzing."
San Jose struggled on offense in a 14-7 win over Gavilan with neither team scoring in the second half.
Jaguars quarterback Anthony McBride completed just 10-of-24 passes for 115 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Jimmie Garewal also played quarterback, completing 5-of-12 passes for 52 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Receiver Darious Thomas did catch both touchdowns and finished with 89 yards on four receptions.
Casey would like to see the Blue Devils build off last week's performance.
"What I liked is our guys kept their composure," Casey said. "We cleaned up some of our mistakes from the first half and that was encouraging to see with such a young group. You don't know how they are going to react. Once we go over the nerves we executed pretty well."
This story was originally published September 7, 2017 at 2:47 PM with the headline "Blue Devils ready to ramp up the pressure against San Jose as they look to start 2-0."