Fresno City College Football Rams lost to defending state champion Butte College 38 – 27 on Sept. 27 at Ratcliffe Stadium. This makes for two straight games against power-house foes.
“They [Butte] did some things that we had not seen in a long time from that team,” said Head Coach Tony Caviglia
FCC’s defense allowed Butte running backs Joshua Mercer and Alex Laurel run for a combined 255 on 41 carries.
“They played physical football and knocked us around a little bit,” said Caviglia.
FCC was out rushed by the roadrunners 313 to -2, the Rams’ worst total since opening day of 2013 when they rushed for 46 against West Hills.
“We didn’t talk well, execute well, and we gave up 38 points,” said defensive backs coach, Ricky Manning Jr. “We’ve got to attack and finish.”
The FCC offensive line was beaten all night long, allowing eight sacks. Pressure from the roadrunners also resulted in two costly Rams’ turnovers.
“They come out there and did what they had to do to get the win,” said sophomore running back, Errian Wingfield.
FCC quarterbacks Christian Rossi and Nolan Sorenson combined for three touchdown passes.
Caviglia is now 4-3 as a head coach at FCC against Butte; FCC also hasn’t beaten CCSF since 2008.The Rams lost to the City College of San Francisco last week 44-33.
The No.7 rams battled the No.2(CCSF) and No.4(Butte) ranked teams in the California Community College Regional State Football Poll.
Last year, FCC lost to CCSF and 41 – 21 to Butte in the Gridiron Classic Bowl
“We have to play hard [and] just go out there and don’t think about this loss,” said Wingfield.
Next week, FCC faces another rival in Reedley College in 38th annual Battle of the Pump.
“We have to focus on Reedley; this is football,” Manning said. “The guys will respond; we have to get it together.”
FCC has held the trophy for the past six seasons, winning last year’s game 48-7 at Ratcliffe stadium.
With the loss FCC falls to 2-2 on the season, and No.7 in the California Community College Regional State Football Poll.
Manning said, “Monday, we’ll fix our mistakes, look at them and move on to the next game.”
