MC football hopes freshmen continue to shine

Randy Jones dropped back on his first third-down attempt and surveyed the field.

The Merced College freshman spotted his open receiver and fired, tossing short of him by a couple yards. It wasn’t the only pass Jones short-armed in his collegiate debut against Los Medanos.

The Blue Devils had a solid opening drive last Saturday, marching to the Mustangs’ 30-yard line before it stalled with a missed field goal. MC went three-and-out over its next three series, with just one completion for one yard. Just when it looked like it would be a long afternoon in the Pittsburg heat, Jones and the offense settled in.

He led scoring drives on four of the Blue Devils’ next five possessions and the 44-14 rout was on. Jones finished with 20 of 28 passing for 348 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers. He wasn’t the only freshman to shine on the afternoon. Justin Stefani rushed for a team-high 101 yards and two scores on five carries. Kama’re Bailey had nine carries for 44 yards and a score and Nih-jer Jackson caught four balls for 66 yards and a touchdown.

MC (1-0) will try for an encore when it hosts Yuba (0-1) on Saturday. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. at Stadium ’76.

“There were a lot of new guys out there, experiencing the college game for the first time,” said freshman receiver Noah Croninger, who caught two passes for 93 yards, kicked a 27-yard field goal and averaged 40 yards a punt. “I think we all had some butterflies going and we just had to work through them.

“Once we put together a few first downs in a row, I think you could see everyone settle in and calm down.”

Much of the talk entering the season involved defensive back Devron Davis and the rest of MC’s highly sought-after sophomore class. And while the returners all played well, coach Bob Casey and his staff were equally encouraged by the big-time contributions of his first-years.

“We knew coming into the season that we liked what we had, but until you see everything in a game situation, you can’t be sure,” Casey said. “There were a lot of new faces out there on both sides of the ball, and you expect it’s going to take a little while to get acclimated to the speed of the game.

“Guys like Randy went through some growing pains in the first half, but I’m glad he was able to not hang his head. He hit some high-percentage pass plays and got some confidence going. It seemed like everyone else’s confidence went up with him.

“The main thing was we were able to get the ball to some guys in space and they showed what they could do.”

Good as the Blue Devils were, there were plenty of rookie mistakes as well.

Casey said he discovered numerous things Merced needed to clean up in practice this week after watching film. The biggest gaffes had to do with alignment and basic assignments.

They’re things that will need to be corrected against a tougher-looking Yuba squad.

“They went to a bowl game last year, and they played Hartnell tough the opening week with a chance to win the game,” Casey said. “They have some guys at the skill positions that can hurt you, and they did a nice job shutting down Hartnell’s running game, which is usually pretty good.

“We started slow against them last year, and we can’t afford to let that happen again.”

The Devils came away from the opener a little banged up, and all the injured (including running backs Josh Stevens and Bailey) are at least questionable for the game. One player who will definitely be in the lineup is Davis, who was ejected from the opener for alleged targeting. The sophomore defensive back’s suspension was overruled after the California Community College Athletic Association had a chance to see the tape.

This story was originally published September 11, 2015 at 7:11 PM with the headline "MC football hopes freshmen continue to shine."