Shasta wins defensive battle with Merced College football

Merced College football coach Bob Casey went out of his way to shake the hand of every member of his defensive starting unit as it left the field.

Their heads hung low after yielding a score with 2:29 to play that locked up Shasta’s 20-7 victory at Stadium ’76 on Saturday night, but Casey wanted to reiterate that the loss was not on them.

The Blue Devil offense struggled all evening, accumulating just 207 yards. Despite all that, Merced was tied 7-7 going into the fourth quarter. Four straight fourth-quarter turnovers finally proved too much for the defense to overcome, however.

“This was a tough one,” Merced safety Daiquan Kelly said. “The defense played hard, but we can’t blame the offense either. Just too many mistakes. Coach told us coming in it was going to be like this. We just gave them too many chances and they took advantage of the opportunities.”

Merced (2-1) trailed 7-0 at the break after mustering just 98 total yards in the opening half but showed some positive signs with its final two drives before intermission, marching into Knights territory each time before sputtering.

The momentum carried into the second half, and on the heels of a Cristian Nava fumble recovery, Merced tied the score on its second possession of the third quarter. Drew Trahan quickly found Nih-Jer Jackson for a 10-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-7.

Merced looked poised to take the lead when Shasta (3-0) fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Starting at the Knights’ 31-yard line, the Blue Devils lost five yards in three plays, missing a chance at even a field goal try. The Merced offense never got going again.

The Shasta offense wasn’t having anymore success.

Merced College turned away the Knights on their first six possessions of the second half, but a Jacques Buchannon fumble at the Merced 45 helped break the deadlock. Shasta put together a nine-play drive, capped by a Ryan Pollard 8-yard touchdown pass to Eric Saintil, to take a 14-7 lead with 7:08 to play.

Merced had plenty of time to answer, but Trahan was sacked and fumbled the ball back to the Knights two plays later. The Blue Devils’ defense rose to the occasion again, forcing a three-and-out. The offense never got another chance to tie the score, however, as Merced muffed the ensuing punt and handed the ball right back to Shasta.

Pollard put away the game with a 6-yard QB keeper three plays later.

“It was a frustrating night,” sophomore offensive lineman Tony Lopez said. “We just had no consistency. Every time we started to get going, there was a fumble or a penalty or an interception. Our defense played their butts off tonight. Those guys were going 100 miles per hour. The offense didn’t do enough to help them out.”

This story was originally published September 18, 2016 at 12:26 AM with the headline "Shasta wins defensive battle with Merced College football."