File photo

An 0-6 start to the season seems like a long time ago for College of the Redwoods.

With back-to-back wins and two games to go, Redwoods remains well in contention for a conference title that seemed close to impossible just eight days ago.

On Saturday, CR welcomed Santa Rosa to the Redwood Bowl to renew an old rivalry and ran out to a 38-24 win.

The victory lifts CR to 2-1 in the National NorCal Conference and into a three-way tie for second in the standings, along with Sierra and American River, all three of whom are just one win behind Butte (3-0).

And with upcoming games at Butte and at home against American River, Redwoods suddenly finds itself with everything still to play for.

“We’re plugging along and getting better and we’re kind of still in control of our own destiny right now,” CR head coach Jason White said.

Next weekend, White and his players will play at Butte, a team that barely beat winless Shasta 21-17 on Saturday.

“The thing I’m seeing from the league is that anyone can beat anyone right now,” White said. “It’s interesting seeing the parity that’s there.”

Saturday’s game was a good one for the Redwoods players, who trailed 17-13 midway through the third quarter but took control of the game with four unanswered scores.

“That’s the best we’ve played all year for sure,” White said.

Quarterback Devon Forehand was the catalyst for the home team and had his best performance of the season, passing for 199 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 103 yards on 10 carries, including a one-yard TD run that tied the game at 7-7 late in the first quarter.

The CR quarterback had TD passes of six yards and nine yards to Saul Reyes and Quinton Buckland, respectively.

“What can you say about Devon?” White said. “He was really the spark that got us going offensively. He’s a special player.”

The CR defense also had a good game, essentially shutting down the visitors for much of the second half.

Christian Solomana led CR in tackles with seven, including six solo.

“Our defense came out in the second half and played lights out,” the CR coach added. “Christian Solomana has kind of been our defensive guy all year.”

Aaron Clifton also scored on a one-yard TD run for CR in the fourth quarter with Luke Freauff adding a two-yard TD run later in the quarter.

Brandon Sailer also kicked a 37-yard field goal for CR to round out the team scoring.

The game turned late in the first half.

Santa Rosa broke a 7-7 tie on a TD with 49 seconds remaining in the half, but CR would respond just 43 seconds later on Forehand’s TD pass to Reyes to grab the momentum going into the break.

That score was set up on a 44-yard pass from Forehand to Romyl Luster.

“That was a big pivot point in the game,” White said.

Trailing by 21 points, the visitors would add a late TD with the game already well decided.

With the win, CR is now 2-6 on the season, while Santa Rosa dropped to 0-3 in conference and 3-5 overall.