Merced College racks up over 600 yards of offense in blowout win over Los Medanos College
Merced College set the tone early against Los Medanos College with two big plays. The Mustangs barely had time to get settled on their sideline before the Blue Devils exploded for two long touchdowns.
First it was MC quarterback Ryan Kroft connecting with Mataeo Brinson on a 79-yard touchdown pass on the Blue Devils’ third offensive play.
After the Blue Devils got the ball back, running back Justin Incaprera broke a few tackles and sprinted down the Merced College sideline for an 80-yard touchdown run.
The Blue Devils needed just five offensive plays to jump out to a 13-point lead.
Merced College never let up as it throttled Los Medanos 54-6 on Saturday afternoon at Don Odishoo Field.
“We definitely have some guys who can do that (create big plays),” said Merced College coach Bob Casey, whose team improved to 1-1 this season. “On one play you have a guy (Brinson) just out run everyone else. The other play you have a guy break a bunch of tackles.”
The Mustangs (0-2) had no answers on either side of the ball.
The Merced College defense dominated, holding Los Medanos scoreless through the first three quarters and under 300 yards of total offense.
The Blue Devils defense recorded five sacks with Joshua Hickman and Arnold Djanie both picking up a pair of sacks. Alfonso Gary played lockdown defense at cornerback, recording an interception and breaking up two other passes, including a fourth-down pass in the end zone.
Xavier Ortiz-Wilson and Cody Chapman led the defense with 10 tackles and nine tackles, respectively.
Offensively, Merced College racked up over 29 first downs and 611 yards of total offense.
Blue Devils quarterback Ryan Kraft said the offense was in rhythm all day.
“We really feel unstoppable,” said Kraft. “We feel like we can do whatever we want. We can run, pass, whatever. Everyone was doing their thing.”
Kraft completed 14 of 22 passes for 245 yards and four touchdowns to four different receivers in Brinson, DaSani Tate, Ezra Morales and Demoundre Evans.
Incaprera, Romello Presley, Isaiah Hidalgo and backup quarterback Jacob Bettencourt all scored rushing touchdowns. Incaprera finished with 118 rushing yards on just eight carries. The Blue Devils finished with 335 yards rushing as a team.
Casey says it’s been a while since the Blue Devils fired on all cylinders like that in each phase of the game.
“It’s been about four or five years,” Casey said. “It was nice to see.”
Merced College will travel to Cupertino next Saturday to play De Anza College at 1 p.m.
