Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

College of the Redwoods closed out its pre-conference schedule in football with another tough loss at the Redwood Bowl on Saturday, but there are signs the team is building some momentum.

CR fell 48-27 to Monterey Peninsula in a game that got away in the second half, as the visiting Lobos improved to 5-0.

The loss dropped CR to 0-5, but the schedule will ease substantially when conference play begins in two weeks.

CR’s five losses so far have come against teams that are a combined 19-4 and all five of those opponents are ranked in the top 23 in the state, including No. 5 Diablo Valley, No. 7 Monterey Peninsula, No. 16 Sequoias, No. 20 Foothill and No. 23 Sacramento City. 

But three of the team’s five conference rivals are a combined 1-14, and only No. 2 Butte (4-1) appears to present a formidable challenge.

“I really think when we get into conference, it’s anybody’s games,” CR head coach Jason White said. “The thing I would say is at this level right now anyone can win in any week.”

A CR offense that features just one returning starter this fall has taken its lumps early in the campaign, but there are definitely signs of the offense making strides.

In Saturday’s loss, Alex Meadows had a big day, pulling in four receptions for 153 yards, including two big TD catches, one of which was good for 80 yards.

Trailing 14-0 after the opening quarter, the home team would pull even late in the second quarter after scoring a pair of TDs within 2:15, the first on a 52-yard TD  throw from quarterback Devon Forehand to Meadows and the second on a 22-yard pick six by Victory Achilike.

The visitors, however, would add to their tally before the break on a one-yard TD pass from QB Manual Simon Lopez to Julius Robinson.

They would stretch the advantage to 21 with two more TDs early in the second half and there was no way back for Redwoods after that.

Turnovers proved costly for CR, which had three interceptions and three fumbles lost.

“Sometimes we looked really good offensively. It was probably our best performance,” White said. “But turnovers killed us. When we weren’t doing that we were very effective.”

Forehand was effective running the offense and completed 15 of 19 passes for 291 yards and two TDs.

He also led the team in rushing, finishing with 56 yards on seven carries, and had a TD reception.

One of his interceptions came late when Redwoods was chasing the game.

Quinton Buckland also threw a 37-yard TD pass to Forehand to open the scoring for the hosts.

Redwoods, which rushed for 134 yards, actually out-gained the visitors in offensive yards (483 to 482).

But the defense struggled to contain the unbeaten Lobos.

“Defensively we got them into a lot of third-down situations, but we weren’t able to get them off the field,” White added.

CR has a bye next week before playing back-to-back conference games on the road, at Sierra on Oct, 11 and at Shasta on Oct. 18.