CCCAA FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
SoCal Regional Championship
College of the Canyons (9-2) at Riverside City (11-0), 6 p.m.
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NorCal Regional Championship (preview below)
Modesto (9-2) at College of San Mateo (11-0), Noon
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SANTA CLARITA - No. 3 College of the Canyons will travel to face No. 1 Riverside City College in the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Southern California Regional Championship game at Arthur N. Wheelock Stadium on Saturday Nov. 30. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Saturday's playoff game will also be live streamed to fans via the Riverside Athletics YouTube Channel.
General admission tickets are $12. Seniors over age 55 and children under 17 and Veterans are $8 as dictated by the CCCAA. Gameday parking on the Riverside campus is $5.
Canyons (9-2, 4-1) defeated No. 2 Saddleback College 58-53 in the opening round of the CCCAA SoCal Regional Playoffs on Nov. 23 at Cougar Stadium.
The playoff victory was the first of COC head coach Ted Iacenda's career and comes on the heels of the Cougars' back-to-back Southern California Football Association (SCFA) National Division, Northern League Championships. The Cougars won the Northern League title outright in 2018 and share their 2019 championship with Ventura College and Long Beach City College.
Canyons will be playing in a Southern California Regional Championship game for the sixth time in program history and the first time since 2008.
In the program's previous five appearances (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008) the Cougars hold a 2-3 record with the last victory coming in the form of a 37-24 road win vs. the Colt Brennan led Saddleback Gauchos during the 2004 National Championship season.
COC also defeated Chaffey College 52-27 to win the program's first SoCal Regional title in 2002, before losing to Reedley College in the state championship game.
Riverside (11-0, 5-0) won the SCFA National Division, Southern League after a 56-25 road win over Saddleback in the regular season finale.
The Tigers then defeated No. 4 Mt. San Antonio College (7-4, 4-1) 48-0 in the other Southern California Regional Playoff game.
The victory, which was the 100th of RCC head coach Tom Craft's career, propelled the Tigers into a fourth straight Southern California regional championship game. Riverside has also produced 10 straight winning seasons.
Saturday's matchup between Canyons and Riverside will be the first in school history. The winner moves on to the CCCAA State Championship game on Saturday, Dec. 14, at Memorial Stadium on the campus of Bakersfield College.
(College of the Canyons Athletics)
College of San Mateo (11-0) to host Modesto (9-2) with CCCAA Championship berth on the line
SAN MATEO - The "top" football team in the Silicon Valley area, home to the current Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman – also including Bill Walsh, John Madden, Dick Vermeil, Bill Ring and 19 total Super Bowl rings -- will be on stage for a championship football game Saturday (Nov. 23) at noon
College of San Mateo (11-0), with its best record in 98 seasons of college football and currently top-ranked among all 125 JC/CC football teams in the USA, hosts No. 4 Modesto JC (9-2) at College Heights Stadium for the Northern California Football Conference championship. The game will be streamed live on baosn.tv, starting at 11:50 a.m.
Also at stake: a berth in the California Community College Athletic Association championship game at Bakersfield College Memorial Stadium on Dec. 14. The Southern California title game Saturday evening pits No. 7 College of the Canyons (9-2) at No. 2 Riverside (11-0).
CSM defeated Modesto, 35-12, in a non-conference game on Oct. 12. The Bulldogs swept through a fourth straight unbeaten (5-0) Bay 6 League title campaign and then blanked Valley League champion Fresno City College, 21-0, in last week’s state playoff opener to go 11-0.
Although Super Bowl “winners’ such as Walsh and Madden also played for CSM -- and Vermeil coached there -- the Bulldogs have never been 11-0.
The College Heights stadium was also the “favorite” training spot for Tom Brady -- when he played for nearby Serra High -- throughout much of his collegiate and early NFL career, under the tutelage of his personal coach, the late Tom Martinez (former head coach at CSM).
The current CSM team is led by the latest all-star quarterback out of Serra High, 2018 all-metro pick Luke Bottari. He was a unanimous All-Bay 6 League selection as a freshman this season; also the recent “runner-up” in the CCCAA male athlete of the month award selection for October. Bottari (5-11, 185) led the Bay 6 this season, passing for 1952 yards (195.2 per game) with a 157.4 efficiency rating. He also ran for 222 yards for a pacesetting total offense of 2,174 yards.
CSM RULES ALL BAY 6 SELECTIONS: San Mateo had the “unanimous” / top picks at nearly every position on the All-Bay 6 League team selections. In addition to Bottari at quarterback, Darryl Page led the running backs, Sam Langi paced the offensive linemen, Terrell Carter was the top wide receiver, Hulu Ahoia led the defensive linemen, and Bennett Williams was the top safety.
The only position without a unanimous selection was linebacker, where there was a tie for the top spot between Eteva Mauga-Clements of Diablo Valley and Fred Thompkins Jr. of CCSF.
STAT LEADERS: Page has rushed for 835 yards with a 4.3 average per carry and a league-leading ten touchdowns. Carter has 44 receptions for 617 yards and six scores. He has statistics in all four all-purpose rushing categories, for 1,007 yards. That includes 362 yards on kickoff returns with a league-leading 32.9 average.
CSM’s top all-purpose runner is All-Bay 6 receiver Jermaine Jackson, with 1,084 yards – including 272 rushing, 552 on 37pass receptions, and 258 on kickoff returns (28.7 average, No. 2 in the league).
(Fred Baer, College of San Mateo Athletics)
