Stone Ridge Christian victory marred by ugly finish
The Stone Ridge Christian High football team will get its shot at a third consecutive Sac-Joaquin Section championship.
Jonathan Collazo ran for three touchdowns as the Knights defeated Delta (Clarksburg) 47-0 in the first round of the Division VII playoffs at Castle Field in a game that ended ugly.
The referees called the game with 9 minutes left in the fourth quarter after tempers flared after a Delta player was injured.
“One of our guys hit their guy late and their player got hurt,” said Stone Ridge Christian coach Keith Borges. “Our guy did hit him late. I went to go talk to their coach and he got all mad at me. Their players were all riled up. The official finally said enough is enough and he called the game. The score was already 47-0 and it was a running clock.
“I’ve been coaching for quite a few years and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
According to Sac-Joaquin Section director of communications Will DeBoard, who viewed the officials’ report submitted to the section office, both Borges and Delta coach Stephen Bunch were ejected from the game along with three players. The Stone Ridge player that was penalized for the late hit and two Saints players were ejected.
The ejection would force a one-game suspension for Borges, meaning he would miss the section title game next week. Stone Ridge Christian is appealing the suspension, according to the section office.
“According to our rules, the ejected player will not be allowed to play, but he can be on the premises,” DeBoard said. “The ejected coach can not be on the premises.
“They can appeal it and that goes through the league. Complicating matters is that they will play a team from their league (Brookside Christian).”
According to Borges, there was already some bad blood between the two programs that added fuel to the fire because the Delta coaches felt SRC had run up the score in previous matchups against the Saints. Stone Ridge Christian defeated Delta 60-0 last season and 49-0 in 2014.
The Knights took control of Thursday’s game early as Jacob Tanori connected on touchdown passes to Luke Jenkins and Trey Paster in the first quarter to help sprint out to a 21-0 lead.
Collazo added his second rushing touchdown of the night in the second quarter on a 34-yard run to extend the lead to 27-0. Collazo finished with 85 yards on just eight carries.
“We did run the ball effectively,” Borges said. “We did a tailback by committee tonight with Johnny and Shane Casillas. I wanted to make sure both got reps.”
Delta (4-7) tried to start the second half with an onside kick attempt, but Jenkins returned it 45 yards for a touchdown to give the Knights a 34-0 lead.
Collazo added a 15-yard touchdown run and Nelson Machado scored on a 34-yard run to extend the lead to 47-0.
Borges said his back-ups were in the game with a running clock when the late hit happened that led to the stoppage of the game.
The Knights will face fellow Central California Athletic Alliance member Brookside Christian in next week’s section championship. Brookside Christian routed Woodland Christian 62-6 on the other side of the four-team bracket on Thursday.
Stone Ridge Christian defeated Brookside 33-26 on Sept. 24 in Stockton.
Minus the ugly ending, Borges felt his team needed a win like this after closing the season with two consecutive losses.
“Most definitely,” Borges said. “Big Valley Christian and Fresno Christian were good, competitive football teams. I wasn’t sure how our kids would regroup, but they played disciplined and they played well. We’re going to have to be committed to have a chance next week against (Brookside Christian). We’ll have to healthy and in the right mind-set. After the win tonight I feel good about those things.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2016 at 1:08 AM with the headline "Stone Ridge Christian victory marred by ugly finish."