College of the Redwoods came up just short in an entertaining football showdown against Butte at the Redwood Bowl on Saturday, falling 30-24.
With the loss, CR dropped to 5-2 on the season and 1-1 in the National Division NorCal Conference, while Butte improved to 5-2 and 2-0.
In a back-and-forth game, the CR players drove deep into Butte territory late in the fourth quarter, but a pair of penalties pushed them back and they were unable to convert on a fourth down in the final minute.
“We had a chance to win at the end, and just didn’t pull it out, didn’t make the play,” CR head coach Jason White said.
The loss was obviously a disappointing one for the head coach and his players, but it doesn’t end their conference hopes, while the performance against one of the best teams in the state once again showed that they belong in the National Division.
“I seriously doubt in such a tough conference that whoever wins our conference will go undefeated,” White said. “We need to focus on the next game and hopefully we can overcome this loss and win conference.
“We just need to get back to work on Monday.”
Unlike the team’s only other loss off the campaign, which came in a sloppy performance against American River, CR competed well on Saturday.
Butte, however, started the stronger of the two teams.
After scoring their opening TD of the afternoon barely a minute in, the Roadrunners would take full advantage of a fumble on an attempted punt by CR, taking over possession deep in Redwoods territory and stretching the advantage to 14 with 10:38 remaining in the first quarter.
But the home team did not panic and would score back-to-back touchdowns before the end of the opening quarter to pull level.
Both of the early CR touchdowns came on passes from quarterback Kasen Covert to receiver Tre Silva, one from 10 yards out and one for 80 yards.
The visitors would retake the lead on two-yard TD run by quarterback Amare Cooper midway through the second quarter, before a 40-yard field goal by CR kicker Brandon Sailer left the hoe team four points adrift at the interval (21-17).
A 32-yard TD pass from Covert to Uriah Carlston five minutes into the second half gave CR its first lead of the day, but it lasted less then four minutes, before the visitors scored a fourth TD on a three-yard Cooper run.
They added a field goal later in the third quarter to stretch the advantage to six and with both defenses stepping up in the fourth that was the last of the scoring for the afternoon.
“I thought our defense played really well,” White said. “Offensively, we made a lot of big plays but we weren’t consistent throughout the day.”
Covert completed just 11-of-30 passes, but they went for 252 yards and three touchdowns.
He also had one interception.
Silva finished with 145 yards receiving on five catches, while right end Quinton Buckland had two catches for 81 yards.
However, the CR run game was less effective and none of the team’s running backs managed more than 27 yards on the way to 51 yards net for the team.
Butte out-gained their hosts 434 to 303 in total offensive yards.
The CR defense was led by Kameron Rague and Aaeden McCullum, who each had 11 tackles, including 11 solo tackles by Rague.
McCullum also had a fumble recovery.
