Feather River uses strong second half to pull away from Merced College in bowl win
Feather River College outscored Merced College 20-0 in the third quarter to erase a four-point halftime deficit as the Golden Eagles defeated the Blue Devils 50-32 in the American Conference Championship Bowl In Quincy on Saturday afternoon.
Tanner Hall and Malik Dotson combined for five rushing touchdowns for Feather River, which improved to 11-0 this season.
Hall rushed for 125 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries. Hall added 103 yards and three scores on 18 carries.
Merced College (8-3) jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter after Ronnie Harris hauled in a 6-yard touchdown catch from Aiden Meyer and Isaiah Hidaldo scored on an 11-yard touchdown run.
Justin Incaprera added a 1-yard scoring run to give the Blue Devils a 20-16 lead at the half. Incaprera rushed for 111 yards on 31 carries.
Hall scored on a 35-yard run to give the Golden Eagles a 24-20 lead with 14:02 left in the third quarter. Dotson scored on a 25-yard run to extend the lead to 30-20 with 7:30 left in the third quarter.
Trailing 36-20, MC quarterback Jacob Bettencourt connected with Hidalgo on a 31-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 36-26 early in the fourth quarter.
Bettencourt added a 75-yard touchdown pass to Evahn Perez that pulled MC within 42-32 with 9:12 left in the game.
Feather River racked up 596 yards of total offense as quarterback Jared Taylor threw for 302 yards and two touchdowns.
Linebacker Nate Ruiz led the MC defense with nine tackles.
