REDDING, Calif. – Tyler Carey scored a career-high five touchdowns and Shasta College turned in a season-best 43 points but couldn't keep up with No. 24 American River to fall 53-43 Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Carey scored three times through the air and twice on the ground, accounting for all but one touchdown for the Knights, which ties him for the second-most touchdowns in single-game Knights history with four other occurrences.
That lone non-Carey score came on a 3-yard pass from Eli Wehbey to Juan Chavez's with 14:10 to go in the fourth quarter to bring Shasta within five at 40-35.
"Tyler was elite on Saturday and he's been incredible all season," Shasta College head coach Bryon Hamilton said. "It was a great day for the offense."
Both teams matched scores on the ensuing drives. American River struck quick with a 4-play drive capped by a Kenneth Lueth 1-yard run before Carey finished a 7-play drive with a 7-yard run, which was followed by a 2-point conversion pass from Wehbey to Chavez to make it a 3-point game with 9:44 left.
However, ARC responded with a 22-yard touchdown run from Kacie Riley to finish a drive that lasted nearly five minutes. Shasta committed two offensive penalties on the following possession and couldn't move the ball past midfield to fall at home.
Shasta put up a season-best in points (43), total offense (432) and passing yards (341) despite starting quarterback Gabe Curtis departing the game early on from being injured on a quarterback run. Wehbey completed 21 of 32 passes for 341 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
Three of those scores went to Carey – a 32-yarder in the first quarter and a 69-yarder in the second period where Carey took a swing pass near the line of scrimmage down the left sideline, made two defenders miss and waltzed in to the end zone. Carey, who finished with eight catches for 213 yards and four carries for 49 yards, also scored on a 12-yard run, a 30-yard pass from Wehbey and a 7-yard run.
"We had some great efforts from guys after some injuries to our starters," Hamilton said. "Juan had three catches filling in for TE Tre Foster, Eli played lights out and we started five freshmen on the offensive line. The future is bright for those guys."
Shasta's defense wasn't as productive as its offense, allowing more than 500 yards of total offense for the second time this year. ARC also converted 9 of 14 third down opportunities while not turning the ball over.
Anthony Slayton racked up a career-high 13 tackles with two for a loss and Aiden Allsop had 10 tackles, two for a loss including one sack. Waylon Bell made his first start of the year and had eight tackles while C.J. Williams Jr. had seven tackles. JaQuay Mills had five tackles and forced a fumble.
On offense, Miles Wilson turned a team-high nine carries into 30 rushing yards to go with five catches for 23 yards. Cam Williams caught two passes for 46 yards and Chavez hauled in three passes for 40 yards and a touchdown.
Shasta goes on the road against No. 5 Sierra College before returning home to Memorial Stadium for back-to-back home games against College of the Siskiyous and Santa Rosa Junior College.
CAREER DAY
Tyler Careys 5 total TDs tied for second-most in single-game Knights history. The others to do it are D. Anderson (1994 vs. Siskiyous) and Jason Sehorn three times: 1991 vs. Redwoods, 1991 vs. San Mateo, 1990 vs. Redwoods. J. Fisher holds the record with 7 in 1992 … Carey's 213 receiving yards were the 11th most in single-game Knights history
GAME NOTES
Shasta is 10-14 all-time against ARC with seven straight losses … the 53 points given up were the most in a meeting between either team … This was the 700th game played in school history, Shasta is 348-343-9 all-time.
CAREY, SLAYTON AMONG STATE LEADERS
Tyler Carey's 8 receiving TDs this season is tied for the most in the state and moves him tied for 16th with Leo Estes (1976) and his 13 career receiving TDs is seventh all-time … his 18 career TDs moves him into ninth all-time … Carey's 519 receiving yards are fourth most in California JUCOs and his 28.8 yards per reception leads the state … Anthony Slayton's 55 tackles are fourth-most in the state and his 12 tackles for a loss is the seventh-most in California …
STANDINGS
Team NorCal, Overall
#5 Sierra 1-0, 5-1
#10 Butte 1-0, 4-2
#24 American River 1-0, 3-3
Shasta 0-1, 2-4
Santa Rosa 0-1, 2-4
Siskiyous 0-1, 1-4
Photo Credit: Mike Daly