Merced College fill-ins get job done in rout of Reedley

The Merced College defensive line is so banged up it often had more players in street clothes than suited up during practice last week.

The Blue Devil offensive line is only doing slightly better with Tony Lopez sitting and center Cisco Herrera still not healthy enough to play an entire game.

It made little difference on Saturday evening. With linebackers filling in and a defensive end and backups plugging the holes in the offensive trenches, MC dominated the line of scrimmage in a 51-0 rout of Reedley at Stadium ’76.

Led by Jaques Buchannon (a career-high 18 carries for 136 yards), the Blue Devils pounded out a season-high 251 rushing yards and four rushing scores. The defensive side was every bit as dominant, holding the Tigers to minus-16 rushing yards on 31 attempts.

“We talked about it before the game,” Merced coach Bob Casey said. “Every time we’ve been in these spots and asked guys to step up, they’ve done it. We had starting outside linebackers playing defensive end to give us our best chance to win. We’ve got all kinds of guys filling in on the offensive line. They rose to the challenge and found a way to get it done.

“We were hoping to get up on them early and be able to dictate the game by pounding the ball on the ground. Things went pretty well according to the plan.”

A fast start served as the catalyst for the second straight week. Merced College (4-3, 2-2 Golden Coast League) scored on six of eight possessions in the opening half, driving inside the Reedley 5-yard line on seven of them.

Frank Cocio (8 of 18 passing for 159 yards) opened the scoring with a 1-yard quarterback keeper and Noah Croninger added a 23-yard field goal on Merced’s next series to make it 10-0 at the end of one.

The Blue Devils doubled the lead on a Buchannon 2-yard touchdown plunge and another Croninger field goal. They closed the half with scores 1 minute, 43 seconds apart. Cocio found Nih-jer Jackson for a 38-yard touchdown pass. MC then struck on its ensuing defensive series when Brandon Williams forced a fumble that Troy Lowe scooped up and rumbled 52 yards for a TD.

In stark contrast, Reedley (0-7, 0-3 GCL) only crossed midfield two times in the opening half. The Tigers produced just 72 total yards of offense and the Blue Devils cruised into the half with a 34-0 lead.

“I knew all week it was going to be a tough game,” said defensive tackle Hunter Stefani, who finished with five tackles and a sack. “We’d heard about Reedley not being the best team we were going to play, but we were going to come out here and give it all we got.

“Coach wanted to make sure we put in enough effort at practice and not let this game get away from us. Even with the low numbers, everyone got to put in work and it was a nice team win.”

Merced wasn’t nearly as efficient offensively after the break, but managed to rectify some of the mistakes it made during the second half of last week’s victory over Hartnell. The Blue Devils maintained their defensive focus for four quarters to earn their second shutout of the season and avoided late-game penalty flags once the contest was out of reach.

Croninger kicked a third field goal and James Grasty and Joshua Stewart added fourth-quarter rushing touchdowns to round out the scoring.

“It was a fun game to be a part of,” Buchannon said. “We’ve had some good moments running the ball, but it was nice to do it from start to finish tonight. Everyone got in and got some touches. The offensive line deserves the credit. Guys go down and new guys step in and open some holes.

“We need to come back with a good week of practice and hopefully do it against next week.”

This story was originally published October 23, 2016 at 12:43 AM with the headline "Merced College fill-ins get job done in rout of Reedley."