Photos by Sarah Quist

Saturday’s matchup between College of the Redwoods and De Anza in Cupertino was every bit the explosive offensive battle we expected.

When the dust had settled, however, it was the home team that was left standing, coming away with a 42-34 win.

The loss was the third on the season for the Corsairs, who dropped to 1-1 in conference and 2-3 overall.

“It was a hard contested game,” CR head coach Frank Borba said. “The stuff you want to see from a college football game. But unfortunately we came out with the loss.”

Photos by Sarah Quist

It was also one CR will feel they could have won, and probably even should have won.

The Corsairs were the better of the two teams for much of the afternoon, holding a 27-21 lead at halftime and stretching that to a two-score advantage late in the third.

“I thought we played a pretty good three quarters of football,” Borba said.

Unfortunately for the visitors, the breaks didn’t go their way down the stretch, with the Dons scoring three unanswered TDs for the come-from-behind win.

The Corsairs had some success passing the ball, with quarterback Alex Adams completing 18-of-32 for 271 yards and two TDs.

He also had two interceptions, but one of them came on a desperation play at the end of the game.

Adams saw most of the time at quarterback, with Moise Francois battling a hamstring injury he picked up late in last week’s win over Contra Costa and seeing just limited action in Cupertino.

Photos by Sarah Quist – Elijah Hicks had two rushing touchdowns against De Anza.

CR’s three big-play receivers each had productive afternoons, led by Marcus Finney, who pulled in a team-high seven catches for 103 yards.

Micha Fontenot-Cornely had five catches for 94 yards, while Zach Loveland had just three receptions for 25 yards, but made them count, scoring touchdowns on two of them.

Running back Elijah Hicks also had a big game, with a team-high 74 yards on the ground and 58 yards receiving, also running in for two TDs.

Loveland was forced out of the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury, which changed things for CR late in the game.

“We really missed his presence in there,” Borba said. 

Chriss Giacomozzi and Dakota Moore each led the team with seven tackles, with each also recording a sack.

“I was happy with the team’s effort,” Borba said. “My guys battled their tails off. We just couldn’t catch the right breaks.”

The Corsairs will play at Cabrillo next Saturday.