News
Making a State-ment: Butte takes conference, has shot at state title game
By PATRICK KINMARTIN-Sports Writer
Article Launched: 11/09/2008 12:00:00 AM PST
SAN MATEO - To get a real good look at what a college football conference championship ring looks like, Butte County residents have had to go to one place the past few years.
Upon first opening 33 Steaks, Booze and Jazz in Chico's east downtown restaurant district, owner Tyler Cooke put the jewelry he won as a defensive assistant coach from the 2000 Butte title team on display in the main bar area.
Now members of this year's unbeaten group can place hands on their own after a smooth 35-21 victory over San Mateo at foggy CSM Stadium wrapped up the NorCal Conference crown amid Saturday's drizzling afternoon conditions.
"I'm ready to see it," receiver Justin Hilton said, well aware Foothill had also picked up its second conference loss in a 13-7 setback to San Francisco City further south in the Bay Area.
That was the final domino needing to fall Saturday for Butte (9-0, 4-0 NorCal) to get its first conference title since 2002. Butte and Foothill (6-2, 2-2) meet in next week's regular-season finale at Cowan Stadium, where the Roadrunners have a chance to close out what would be just the second 10-0 finish in school history.
"We haven't heard anything about the last time this or that thing happened," Butte defensive end and conference sack leader Brandon Rankin said. "The only thing coaches have been saying is, 'Go out and make history.'"
Butte is now locked into the Northern California championship game, where a win would put the Roadrunners in the state title bowl championship game Dec. 13 in Orange County for the first time.
"We've been doing the chant 'State '08' since summer because we knew back then we had the talent to get there," quarterback Jordan Rodgers said following his 164-yard passing performance that included two touchdowns during the win inside the blue oval at CSM Stadium.
Durable running back Alex Green was the main offensive standout with 97 yards rushing on 30 carries, two touchdowns and another critical 37-yard score off a screen pass from Rodgers midway through the second quarter. The Butte defense took zest out of San Mateo's strong rushing reputation on offense, limiting Bulldogs ballcarriers to 101 total yards on 18 attempts. Defensive back Anthony Conner added three interceptions.
Butte is ranked No. 7 in this week's JCGridiron.com national poll, No. 4 in the JC Athletic Bureau state poll and No. 2 in the Northern California version. The Roadrunners will likely be No. 1 in the region next week because top-ranked Sierra lost to Reedley 28-27 in a key Bay Valley Conference clash.
Everything fell into place so perfectly for the Roadrunners after they effectively dodged a spoiler attempt from San Mateo (4-5, 0-4) that coaches were in genuine disbelief once every bit of unofficial news from outside the area arrived in their locker room at CSM with no direct Internet access.
"I pulled out my phone and made some calls myself," Butte head coach Jeff Jordan said during his postgame visit with the media. "I really had to make sure in this case. "I'm spacing out right now."
Three hours earlier, Jordan had watched his team fall behind 7-0 amid dark skies and a light drizzle of rain four minutes into the game. Jarrett Gooden's 48-yard return of the opening kickoff helped set up his own 14-yard touchdown reception on a lob pass from quarterback Matt Pelesasa.
The Roadrunners' first possession was stopped in six plays at their own 43-yard line, but Eric Roberson fumbled punter Augie Heath's kick and Butte defensive back Erick Clayton recovered it at the Bulldogs 14. Green scored on a 4-yard run three plays later.
San Mateo reversed the scenario in the second quarter. Butte receiver Angel Quial fumbled after a 7-yard catch right at the Roadrunners 32. Three plays later, Eric Milton scored on a 1-yard run to make it 14-7 San Mateo.
"It started out just like I expected - a real tough ballgame," Jordan said, referencing the pregame buildup that San Mateo's four straight losses coming in were all to ranked teams by an average margin of five points.
The Roadrunners took command from there. Green's long score off a 6-yard dump pass from Rodgers was reminiscent of a similar 61-yard touchdown last week, evened the score and startled the fired-up home fans clad in the school's dark blue.
Another fumble recovery on the Bulldogs' next drive, this time deep in San Mateo territory, allowed Green to score again on a short run just before halftime to put the title-clinching win in motion.
"In our locker room back home, there's a picture of every team that has won a conference championship and now we're going to have our own on there," linebacker Nick DeCaneva said. "That's the best part because it's going to be there forever."
NorCal lead all Butte's after win over DVC
By PATRICK KINMARTIN-Sports Writer
Article Launched: 11/02/2008 01:00:00 AM PDT
PLEASANT HILL - There was an exhaustive nature about the way the unbeaten Butte College football team prevented overmatched Diablo Valley from ever displaying a serious upset opportunity for excitable home fans Saturday.
Roadrunners running back Alex Green played hurt and still carried the ball 35 times for 175 yards. That occurred on the same field where Butte couldn't hide from the NorCal Conference's pass fancy - DV quarterback Kyle Hines single-handedly in the literal sense pushed the second half toward two hours in real time with 17 clock-stopping incomplete throws.
When the afternoon was coming to a close and Butte's 41-29 victory was complete, sunlight made a brief appearance after two separate doses of heavy rain had already set over and then left Viking Stadium.
All this just so the Roadrunners (8-0, 3-0 NorCal) could accomplish what had been expected against struggling DV (2-6, 0-3). There was a reward during the wait, however. News came over the public address system in the fourth quarter that fellow conference frontrunner Foothill was beaten handily 44-7 by Santa Rosa, leaving Butte alone atop the standings.
"We're really starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel now and that makes it easier to keep putting the work in every day," Butte left tackle Danny Watkins said.
The Roadrunners are truly entered in a race with themselves to grab the program's first conference championship in five seasons. Keeping ahead may not be as simple as the cliché sounds.
"This gets tiring, it's been eight straight games and the workload keeps getting bigger," Watkins said. "Still some more to go from here." Behind Green most of the time, the Roadrunners called on Watkins and the rest of the line to block on 46 rushing plays for more relentless use of that portion of the offense, which was waterproof toward Saturday's conditions and totaled 255 yards.
The statistics were similar to last week's 41-carry, 215-yard outing, but much more like the stock market with the way the performance was paced. Green had 18 carries where he was stopped for 3 yards or less, but he also had eight carries that went for 10 yards or more. His 27-yard touchdown run with 14:22 left in the fourth quarter put Butte up 34-16 and seemed to push DV off the radar after the Vikings managed to get within 13 points of the Roadrunners from their early 27-7 deficit. Green also turned a screen pass into a 61-yard touchdown reception for the game's first score - one of three first-half touchdown passes for quarterback Jordan Rodgers on a day he was called upon for just six throws in the second half.
"We had a game plan that called for more balance where the rain wasn't taken into account nearly as much," Butte head coach Jeff Jordan said. "We always like to have as perfect balance as we can.
"(DV) just didn't even hesitate, it was clear we were going to have to start running the ball and they started stacking up the line of scrimmage. We had nothing to work with for a while there. I'm real surprised in a good way we still found some openings in that fourth quarter."
Green was expected to play sparingly after reaggravating a shoulder sprain in last week's win. Thirty-plus carries is a task he has often joked about as an ideal fantasy because of his 6-foot-2, 205-pound physical build.
The offensive line of Watkins at left tackle, left guard Mycal Gann, center Jon Brinkman, right guard Etuale Feo and right tackle Randy Huff endured. Gann was recovering from a week-long flu virus and nearly the whole group has had to block on all 127 of the team's running plays since the midseason bye in early October.
"Those guys amaze me," Green said.
The Roadrunners had 13 more minutes in time of possession, which helped keep DV's spread passing offense, directly patterned after Santa Rosa's, from getting haywire. Hines managed to get 47 passes off, completing 24 for 377 yards, four touchdowns and misfiring for a first-quarter interception in the end zone by Lametrius Davis.
Playing from ahead, Butte's highly rated defense could afford to be a little softer, particularly with a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. But the group did give up three more touchdown plays of over 30 yards, putting its total on the season at 11.
"It was a difficult day for the defense, just trying to tackle in the rain and not playing our best," Davis said, summing up what would have been the prevailing theme if earning complete control of the NorCal wasn't the moral of the story for Butte.
Cub clubbin': Roadrunners top Bear Cubs, remain undefeated
By PATRICK KINMARTIN-Sports Writer
Article Launched: 10/26/2008 12:14:57 AM PDT
By PATRICK KINMARTIN-Sports Writer
Article Launched: 10/26/2008 12:14:57 AM PDT
OROVILLE - Over 125 official plays were logged in Saturday afternoon's NorCal Conference matchup with title implications between the Butte College football team and Santa Rosa.
The solo one among them all that came with a little above 12 1/2 minutes remaining in the third quarter may not have made the entire difference, but upon impact it did change the entire flow of game chemistry .
Because from the moment after Roadrunners free safety A.J. Hills bolted loose to block Ian Mullin's punt and position Lametrius Davis for the special teams touchdown, Butte's close halftime lead blossomed steadily into a 45-27 victory at Cowan Stadium.
The Bear Cubs could only muster a single damaging score in the third quarter while a 15-play touchdown drive spilling into the fourth quarter from the Roadrunners signaled the end of a three-loss streak to fellow nationally ranked contender Santa Rosa and kept them in the hunt for the conference title.
"We got a lot more relaxed once we were able to do that," said Hills, the Oroville High product with the momentum-changing effort when the score had been merely 21-14 in Butte's favor. "That was some cushion we needed."
The Roadrunners (7-0, 2-0 NorCal) needed it because their offense - already a bit shorthanded with injured starting quarterback Ryan Ratekin absent - was operating with a running back carrying the ball for the first time this season. Also, the traditionally explosive passing offense of Santa Rosa (5-2, 1-1) was averaging 39 points coming into the battle and was beginning to look primed for a big second half if Butte's conference-leading rushing game was impaired/incapable of keeping Bear Cubs quarterback Adam Froman off the field.
Both those forces conspiring against Butte subsided with the Hills blocked punt and later a Hills interception, Anthony Conner's 87 yards along with two touchdowns off 15 second-half carries, and quarterback Jordan Rodgers' B-plus effort controlling the class as a substitute for Ratekin.
For the second straight week, the Roadrunners were able to beat an opponent that had bullied them around the past few seasons. Butte head coach Jeff Jordan was more pleased that his team, which entered the game ranked No. 11 in the JCGridiron.com national poll and No. 6 in the JC Athletic Bureau state poll, simply kept itself in the running for the NorCal crown. "We're in control of our own destiny," he said. "That's really the main thing for us."
Saturday's meeting once again lived up to its billing as quite a cinematic experience for college football lovers. Santa Rosa unfurled its wide open shotgun spread offense by passing the ball on 89 percent of its 28 first-half plays on offense and Butte countered by staying true to the forever blue-collar playbook, with 15 handoffs alone to starting running back Alex Green - flying alone without injured backfield partner Aaron Courtney - before halftime.
Green's 2-yard touchdown run with 5:26 left in the second quarter was all that separated the two going into the break. That would be the last contribution of the afternoon for Butte's leading rusher, who actually said he sustained more of a minor neck injury as opposed to the popular notion he had reaggravated the shoulder injury from last week's win in San Francisco.
Conner, last season's leading rusher before he was shipped to the secondary to shore up defensive problems, was stopped for short gains on Butte's first three plays of the second half. Santa Rosa was then equally unsuccessful in its first possession and also had to punt.
That's when Hills, the former Oroville basketball standout and Portland State transfer, stuffed Mullin's kick at the 26 to spring Davis loose for a touchdown that electrified the packed home crowd. "We had the same type of rush on (Santa Rosa's) first punt and I noticed they weren't blocking me up the middle," Hills said. "I told coaches we had to try it again and it worked."
Two Santa Rosa possessions later, Froman misfired badly from deep in his own territory, Hills picked up an interception and Butte cashed in with Augie Heath's 34-yard field goal to make the score 31-14. The turnover was the worst part of a tough day for Froman, who actually faced little resistance from Butte's highly rated pass rush thanks to masterful blocking from his line but still finished below his average numbers with 271 yards on 19 completions in 40 attempts with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
"It was on me today," Froman said. "Butte has a good, fast defense, but we had everything to work with and I wasn't putting the ball where I was supposed to." Rodgers, meanwhile, ended up with 75 yards on 12 completions in 21 attempts, one touchdown, one interception and gratitude for the special teams work of Hills. "Oh, man," Rodgers said, "that changed the momentum for us right there."
Roadrunners' line hunkers down, gets job done in win
Roadrunners' line hunkers down, gets job done in win
By PATRICK KINMARTIN-Sports Writer
Article Launched: 10/05/2008 12:05:49 AM PDT
OROVILLE — Josh Bellamy, the Butte College football team's acclaimed wide receiver, felt strongly about the Roadrunners' situation going into Saturday's key nonconference battle against San Joaquin Delta.
Butte was missing two starting offensive linemen, which forced a 6-foot-5, 370-pound tackle to hunker down as a center for the first time, while facing a Mustangs group that had forced 12 turnovers in its first four games.
"I told our defense," Bellamy said, reenacting a speech from earlier in the week, "'You have to have a big game ... if you don't have a big game, we're going to lose.'"
All the pressure paid off. The Roadrunners defense rose to the occasion and became the difference in a tight 24-17 home win at Cowan Stadium that should keep Butte among the top 10 ranked teams in the state and top 15 nationally.
The Roadrunners were trailing 17-14 at halftime, looking much more vulnerable than their unbeaten record suggested. The anxious defensive unit changed that tempo completely.
Delta (4-1) was stymied in the second half, picking up just two first downs because there was the problem of moving the ball forward — sacked five times and stopped for a loss on two other runs, the Mustangs ended up with minus-14 rushing yards while completing only two passes.
"I can't say enough good things about the way our defense came out and played after halftime," Butte head coach Jeff Jordan said. "They were all getting to the football, 11 guys on every play." There were clear individual standouts, however. Brandon Rankin was the leader in that regard. The national prospect at defensive end finished with two sacks, three if credit comes his way for a coverage sack brought on by Butte's secondary. He also hurried worn-down quarterback Pete Murdaca into two incompletions during the second-half surge. Outside linebacker Brandon Luster, known more for his effectiveness on special teams so far this year for Butte (5-0), also had two sacks in the second half.
"We started playing harder," Rankin said. "They were tired in the second half. They were playing some good football, we just wanted it more I guess."
Both teams considered themselves state championship contenders coming into the matchup since they both were yet to lose. Butte had the chance to uphold its No. 11 ranking in the JCGridiron.com national poll and Delta knew beating such an opponent would strengthen its status as No. 9 in the JC Athletic Bureau state poll considerably.
With the Mustangs' offense not able to impact the game, Butte only had to muster two scoring drives to move ahead. Augie Heath's 26-yard field goal, set up by a clutch 9-yard catch from Angel Quial on third down-and-6 three plays earlier, tied the clash 17-17 with nine minutes left.
Running back Alex Green's cutback 28-yard touchdown run with 2:36 remaining, the second play of a short drive afforded by the defense's success in the field-position game, received a thunderous ovation from the packed home crowd at Cowan. Keke Paul intercepted a desperate pass attempt by Murdaca on the ensuing Mustangs possession to seal Butte's sixth straight win dating back to last season.
"I didn't think our offense got the proper chance to execute," said Delta receiver Morrell Diamond, whose 13-yard touchdown catch coupled with running back Odis Richardson's 53-yard score on a run were the high points of a successful second quarter for the Mustangs. "We were taken out of the flow a little bit."
Butte's offense managed to overcome two first-half turnovers, rare for a team that had only committed one in that scenario the first four games. Behind makeshift center Etuale Feo at the helm of the line, Green had a hot-and-cold 123-yard performance on 21 carries and two touchdowns.
Utilizing large gains against Delta's aggressive defense was critical. Bellamy's 58-yard touchdown reception stemming from a modest 8-yard catch — a missed tackle paved the way — put Butte up 14-10 late in the second quarter. That burst and Green's game-winning jaunt were two of just three gains of over 15 yards for Butte until Aaron Courtney rushed for 21 yards just before time expired.
Delta, which punted to end the six possessions preceding the Paul interception, had its largest gain of the second half recorded as a 13-yard reception by running back Kevin Breaker.
"We need five more of these," Butte defensive back Lametrius Davis said about the defensive showing. "There's still five games left on the schedule."
Big-play Paul helps Butte get to 4-0
By PATRICK KINMARTIN-Sports Writer
Article Launched: 09/28/2008 12:00:00 AM PDT
OROVILLE — With 382 yards on kick returns and not a single touchdown to show for them, Kiki Paul has had to work awfully hard just to be the most undistinguished force on the Butte College football team this season.
But at least Saturday afternoon no one could deny the young speedster out of Orlando, Fla., was the biggest key in the state-ranked No. 9 Roadrunners' 40-21 home victory over struggling Redwoods at Cowan Stadium.
Paul didn't get his first career score — three crucial ones for Butte (4-0), however, came as a direct result of his burst abilities.
His 45-yard kickoff return in the closing seconds of the first half dashed scrappy Redwoods' early momentum and prevented the Roadrunners from trailing at halftime for the first time this year. His 44-yard return on the second half's opening kickoff made certain Butte stayed in control. And his 46-yard interception return in the fourth quarter kept the final score so dominant.
"He's a special player when the ball gets in his hands," Butte head coach Jeff Jordan said, delivering a statement about Paul also often given toward All-American safety David Sims last year.
Before Sims departed for Oklahoma, he amassed a 33.7-yard kick-return average to go along with his three touchdowns from bringing back a fumble, a missed field goal and a kickoff. That was damage coming toward the tail end of his Butte career.
As Paul's is only beginning to take flight, his statistics are following. In total, the
5-foot-9, 160-pound defensive back with a more elegant stride than Sims — both have a rich background as sprinters in track and field — racked up 153 yards in returns Saturday.
That topped other showy outings from receiver Josh Bellamy, who finished with 123 yards on eight catches and two touchdowns, and running back Alex Green, who kept his stake in Butte's dynamic backfield duo highly valued with 112 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns.
"Sims was powerful, Kiki is a little more natural," Green said. "I saw it right away when he came here. I knew just watching the way he moved what he was capable of."
Paul said he would prefer not to be known strictly for his work on special teams.
"I play defense, too, and take pride in that," he said. "I want to be complete. (Special teams) is just one part of what I can do."
Really, the biggest lift Paul provided was for his fellow members of the defense. They had struggled to disengage a methodical Redwoods passing game that propelled the Corsairs 80 yards upfield on a 14-play drive ending with tight end Eric Dayton's five-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Sergio Allen.
It put Redwoods (1-3) ahead 14-10 with 21 seconds left in the first half. But an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for the Corsairs on the extra-point attempt pushed the ensuing kickoff 15 yards back to give Paul more space to take advantage of.
Surely enough, he fielded the ball at the Butte 41-yard line and casually zipped up through an opening afforded by blocking up the left sideline for a run that was finally stopped at the Redwoods 14. The very next play, quarterback Ryan Ratekin found Bellamy for a 14-yard touchdown and it seemed as if Redwoods' excellent execution on the other end had never taken place.
"The penalty and then the return, that made it a totally different mood," said Allen, who could never recapture his good first-half rhythm — 11-of-14 passing for 71 yards and no interceptions (the Corsairs ended up with three, two from backup Jason Johnson).
Paul's 44-yarder to open the second half set up Augie Heath's 19-yard field goal to push Butte's lead to 20-14. It was never threatened from there because of the way the Roadrunners' defense was able to slow down Redwoods to 15 total offensive yards in a scoreless third quarter.
The Corsairs kept it close in the first half thanks largely to running back Lyndon Rowles' 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that tied the score 7-7 on Redwoods' first touch of the ball in the second quarter. In the end, Paul was the game-changing special teams player.
"I just saw the way we were (stunned) on the sideline and wanted to pick the spirits up," he said. "That was my motivation."
Roadrunners pour it on, dump Siskiyous
By PATRICK KINMARTIN-Sports Writer
Article Launched: 09/21/2008 12:05:19 AM PDT
WEED — Despite some occasional sputtering, the Butte College football team's engine still looked powerful Saturday afternoon.
The Roadrunners found themselves challenged on a fast track right away against speedy Siskiyous, but their 53-25 victory over the underdog Eagles at Meredith Stadium came on steadily with enduring production through four quarters.
Butte (3-0) protected its No. 11 state ranking by churning out 35 more minutes in offensive possession, also wearing down Siskiyous with a 25-9 advantage in total first downs. Roadrunners quarterback Ryan Ratekin passed for a career-high 310 yards while running back Aaron Courtney overcame his shoulder injury with 107 yards rushing and two touchdowns to help topple the Eagles' big-play duo of Aquira Brown and Darius Davis soundly.
"It was just the same thing as the last two weeks," Butte right offensive guard Tom Carlson said. "The same type of consistent execution and hard play out there."
It's conceivable that the first play of the high-scoring nonconference affair played amid the thin air of the Eagles' campus nestled in the Siskiyou Mountains sealed the race early. Siskiyous (1-2) tried a trick play when the mobile quarterback Brown pitched a screen pass to Davis, his go-to receiver.
Davis stopped and launched a 30-yard pass upfield toward open tight end Klaus Geier. Butte free safety A.J. Hills, the Oroville product making his first start since transferring from Portland State, got just enough of a late break on the fly to intercept the throw with fully extended arms just before it could reach Geier.
"We weren't ready for that," Hills said. "I barely saw (Geier) make his release, but it was delayed a little so I had time to react and get over there for the ball."
The rest of Butte's performance had a choreographed look to it. Directly following Hills' interception, Ratekin and the offense hitched their wagon to Courtney for a controlled scoring drive. Stature-wise, he is the smallest player from the Florida pipeline Butte has utilized as a major recruiting success the past few seasons.
Courtney, however, continued to put the largest numbers on the board offensively, rushing for 29 yards on six carries and a touchdown on the opening possession alone to put Butte ahead 7-0. When he scored his second touchdown late in the second quarter to push the Roadrunners up 27-13, the 2-yard scoring run was his seventh carry for 43 yards on that drive.
The 5-foot-9 dynamo had also made a 29-yard play off a screen pass from Ratekin.
"That guy runs hard," Carlson said. "All our running backs do. If we on the O-line can give them the space they need, we know great things are going to happen."
Butte head coach Jeff Jordan mulled the fact that the Courtney drive was the offense's only touchdown during the second- through third-quarter span. During that period, Ratekin threw an interception, the Roadrunners had their only two punts and kicker Augie Heath missed a 30-yard field goal.
"I thought we were pretty mediocre offensively," Jordan said. "I will say, though, it feels a lot better and very encouraging when you can say that and have a 3-0 record still."
The Roadrunners kept the Eagles pinned down by not fidgeting when the Eagles made their ace moves of the day offensively.
Brown, the agile Siskiyous signal-caller, was able to find Geier free behind the Butte secondary for a 79-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter to cut the Roadrunners' 14-0 lead in half. In the second quarter, Davis also broke open to take a 20-yard pass from Brown that ended up a 70-yard touchdown, reducing the Butte edge to 20-13.
If not for those two bursts, Brown would have had only two completions among his six first-half attempts for 37 yards — part of his drawn-out struggle against the Butte defense that came into the game rated No. 4 statewide in yardage allowed.
"I thought we'd be able to find some success passing the ball on them," Siskiyous head coach Eric Young said. "We had trouble getting established there."
With the running game clicking behind the 187 yards Courtney and backfield partner Alex Green reached on a combined 42 carries, Ratekin was able to complete passes to nine different members of the Butte offense, a season-high. Receiver Justin Hilton led the catch parade with his four grabs, 85 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
The Roadrunners had nine first downs in the first quarter along with 12 minutes, 43 seconds in ball possession.
"(Siskiyous) was in the same stack defense we worked against in practice all week," Carlson said. "That's how it became so easy for us."
