Redwoods is growing as a team on the football field.
On Saturday afternoon, the local community college program won 37-34 in double overtime at Sacramento City College, posting a third straight win to start the new season.
But all three wins have been achieved in different ways.
In the opener, head coach Jason White’s players came storming out of the gates on the way to winning at San Jose with some dynamic offense, before a penalty-prone performance against Reedley last week in a game they had to hold on late to win.
On Saturday against the Panthers, they trailed for much of the afternoon and didn’t take the lead until their first possession in overtime.
After the home team tied the game to force a second OT period, the CR defense held the Panthers to a field goal before going back to work on offense.
Moments later, they secured the win on a TD pass from quarterback Kasen Covert to Tanner Pidgeon.
“He made a great play,” White said of Pidgeon, who scored on a diving catch on a play action call. “He was wide open, but he had to make a pretty good catch. It was a well executed play for the most part.”
In his first three games on the college fields, Pidgeon has now thrown for a TD and made a game-winning TD catch.
The performance itself was far from perfect for CR, on both sides of the ball, but the visitors did enough to secure the victory and go to 3-0 for the first time since the program was reinstated in 2022 after a brief hiatus.
Asked what most impressed him about the performance, the CR coach talked about the way his team handled facing a deficit and found a way to win.
“Just the resiliency of the kids,” he said. “We were playing in the heat and the wind and you could tell at the beginning we weren’t all the way ready to go in terms of our emotional makeup.”
CR had just six offensive plays in the opening quarter, but one of them went for a TD, when Covert connected with big-play receiver Tre Silva on a 65-yard pass.
That tied the game at 7-7.
The Panthers, however, continued to grind away on the way to amassing 270 yards rushing, and they would retake the lead early in the second, before the visitors responded with an eight-yard TD run by Covert to tie the game again at 14-14.
Sacramento would score the next 10 points to open up a 24-14 advantage five minutes into the second half, but the resilient Redwoods players would respond again, tying the game midway through the fourth on a one-yard TD run by Covert, a score that was set up on a 42-yard run by running back Savion McCoy.
Kicker Brandon Sailer also nailed a 31-yard field goal in the third quarter to keep his team within touching distance.
While the CR defense gave up some yards on the ground, the team’s offense matched the Panthers stride-for-stride with 255 yards rushing.
In addition to completing 9-of-18 passes for 180 yards, two TDs and two interceptions, Covert also led CR in rushing with 91 yards on 17 carries and scored two more TDs.
The Oregon native continues to impress in just his third college start.
“He had a little bit of an off day,” admitted White. “And I think he’d be the first one to tell you, but I’ll tell you what, he competes. He’s not scared to go and make a play.”
McCoy added 64 yards on seven carries and made his presence felt despite being the team’s third choice in the offensive backfield behind Mataio Olomua and Aaron Clifton, although White admits all three are very capable college running backs in what is a deep backfield.
“He’s really just as good as the other two,” the coach said of McCoy. “We have a lot of kids that can make plays.”
Olomua finished with 45 yards and a TD on 14 carries, while Clifton added 44 yards on six carries.
Silva is also emerging as big playmaker on this year’s team and he led the receivers with 96 yards on three receptions.
The CR defense, meanwhile, gave up a lot of yards on the ground, but it wasn’t all bad.
“They played well enough for us to win,” White said of the defense, which spent a lot of time on the field in hot conditions. “And that’s what really matters.”
Safety Kameron Rogue had a huge game and finished with a game-high 12 tackles — all of them solo — which was four better than any other player on the field.
Linebacker Caleb Morgan also continued his impressive start to the season and finished with eight tackles, seven of them solo.
Linebackers Kyrin Fuimaono and Aaeden McCullum each also impressed in the win.
“All three of those guys, they bring it every week,” White said of his starting linebackers. “I’m proud of what they’re doing.”
Redwoods returns to the North Coast for the next two weeks, hosting Foothill and Monterey Peninsula on back-to-back Saturdays.
