Blue Devils try to bounce back from first loss

Bob Casey said the honeymoon is over.

The warm and fuzzy feelings produced from his Merced College football team’s 2-0 start to the season were erased with one lackluster road performance against Shasta.

The Blue Devils committed all the unforgivable road sins, with drive-killing penalties, turnovers that handed the Knights good field position, poor tackling and lots of points left on the field. Casey said the next two weeks should be telling, with the team getting into the teeth of its schedule (undefeated Contra Costa and Hartnell).

MC (2-1) will try to bounce back at home Saturday as state No. 22 Contra Costa comes to Stadium ’76. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

“Now we find out what we’re made of,” Casey said. “For the first time all season we really didn’t play well (against Shasta). We went into halftime with a 10-7 lead, so we can’t just say we got off the bus not ready to play. But there were little things we haven’t done all season that kept it from being a bigger lead.

“We had untimely turnovers, gave up a punt return for a touchdown and then had two big drive-killer penalties that would have led to points. We had a number of guys get hurt, and their replacements didn’t quite step up as we would have liked. Shasta began exploiting some of those things.”

Things won’t get any easier against a Contra Costa squad that’s already knocked off Cabrillo, West Hills and Reedley.

Quarterback Cameron Burston has led the way, passing for 705 yards and eight touchdowns through the first three weeks. The Blue Devils’ secondary did a great job shutting down Shasta’s aerial assault last week, but the depleted front seven yielded a season-high 290 rushing yards.

“They’re a typical Contra Costa team that has some major athletes,” Casey said. “They run really well. They’re long and fast at receiver. They’re going to spread the field and force you to cover everybody.

“We feel like we have the guys to do that, but it’s going to be a challenge.”

The Comets should have their hands full as well against a Blue Devils offense that, despite last week’s hiccups, ranks sixth in the state with 471 yards per game.

“We know what went wrong last week and it’s all about refocusing,” said leading rusher Josh Stevens, who has 324 yards and three touchdowns through three games. “We need to put last week behind us. We’ve had a better week of practice than last week and just need to keep building towards (Saturday).

“It’s nice to be back home. I feel like we need to jump on them early, and keep running on them like we’re capable of.”

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Blue Devils try to bounce back from first loss."