Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Corsairs will host Monterey Peninsula in the Grizzly Bowl here on the North Coast on Saturday.

By Ray Hamill — Even the Corsairs underestimated how good they would be this season.

Fresh off a two-year hiatus, College of the Redwoods reinstated the football team this fall and it’s safe to say that a roster made up almost entirely of freshmen has played beyond its years and has come together quicker than expected.

After dropping the opening two games, CR put together a seven-game winning streak to become bowl eligible, and the Corsairs were rewarded with a home game against Monterey Peninsula in the 2022 Grizzly Bowl.

And that success even caught the coaches off guard.

“As things went along, I think it was around game six, I thought, we’ve got a chance to make the postseason this year,” head coach Jason White said with a chuckle. “So I told the players, don’t go out and make any plans for Thanksgiving.”

The team’s quick development is a testament to the coaches, who have managed to bring a young roster along faster than expected in what was supposed to be a year the program re-established itself and built a foundation for the future

Instead, the Corsairs will now do something no other CR football team has managed in more than a quarter of a century.

On Saturday, they will become the first CR team to host a bowl game since 1995.

“I’m very happy for our players that have put in all the work over the past year,” White said. “Sometimes when you put in hard work it doesn’t always pay off, but for us it has paid off.

“I’m just happy these guys get an extra game and we get a chance to give our community a postseason college game. There haven’t been many of them here for a while.”

The game will be played at the Redwood Bowl, with kickoff set for 1 p.m.