Redwoods football will be glad to see the end of October.
On Saturday, the local community college team suffered a third straight loss, falling 49-21 to Diablo Valley at the Redwood Bowl and dropping to 1-3 in conference and 5-4 on the season.
After opening the year with four straight wins, head coach Jason White and his players went just 1-3 in October, and their struggles continued on Saturday, particularly on defense.
“Defensively we forced one punt and had one (takeaway) and they were the only stops we had,” White said. “It was a disappointing showing honestly.”
Despite the three straight losses, Redwoods remains bowl eligible but will have to win at Laney on the final day of the regular season next week to have any hopes of achieving that.
The Vikings started the stronger of the two teams on Saturday and quickly took control of the game with three unanswered touchdowns.
They would carry a 28-14 lead into halftime and added two more TDs in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 28 before the end of the third quarter.
“Diablo Valley College came ready to play,” White said. “They were ready to play and I don’t think we were ready to play.”
Four turnovers, including three interceptions, didn’t help matters for the home team, nor did the fact that starting quarterback Kasen Covert missed the game after picking up an injury this week.
In his absence, Landon McKee got his first start of the year and had a decent afternoon, completing 19-of-30 passes for 290 yards, two TDs and two interceptions.
“I thought he played extremely well for having his first start,” White said. “I’m proud of the job he did.”
McKee and the Redwoods offense did move the ball well at times and racked up 379 yards, but they were unable to take full advantage of the opportunities.
Conversely the visitors had 530 yards on offense.
Trailing by 21 late in the first half, Redwoods finally got on the board late in the second quarter when McKee connected with receiver Justice Anthony on a 11-yard TD pass.
The Vikings responded almost immediately and reestablished a three-TD lead barely two minutes later, but CR would close out the half strong, with McKee adding a second TD pass, this one to Tre Silva for 31 yards to give the home team some momentum heading into the break.
However, any hopes of a comeback were dashed when the Vikings added two more TDs in the third quarter to end the game as a contest.
There were, however, some bright spots for the home team, including a breakout performance for former Ferndale Wildcat Tanner Pidgeon.
The freshman rushed for a team-high 45 yards on four carries and found the end zone from three yards out to close out the team’s scoring early in the fourth quarter.
Pidgeon had a 38-yard gain on the ground, his longest of the season, and also had a reception for eight yards.
Silva led the CR receivers with 81 yards on three catches, while tight end Quinton Buckland continued to impress with another good game and added 64 yards on four receptions.
Defensively, Kameron Rague and Aaeden McCullum each also impressed, much as they have been doing all season.
Rague finished the game with a team-high 14 tackles, including 10 solo — “he’s good week in, week out,” White said — while McCullum added 10 tackles, including seven solo.
Wyatt Peterson also had a fumble recovery for the CR’s only takeaway of the day.
The win was the second straight for the Vikings, who improved to 2-2 in conference and 6-3 overall.
“Right now, for us we’ve got to regroup this week,” White said. “If we can beat Laney there’s a good chance we can get a bowl game, which is an accomplishment in itself.”
