A school record for points scored. How MJC’s offense caught fire against West Hills.
77 points. 11 touchdowns. 773 yards of offense.
The only thing stopping the Modesto Junior College offense on Saturday was the end zone as the Pirates (5-2, 2-0) rolled over West Hills, 77-39, on Homecoming Night in Valley Conference play.
The 77 points are a school-record. The previous record was 76 set in 2013.
And it wasn’t a perfect night.
“Our normal if-then contingencies weren’t necessarily working,” Pirates coach Rusty Stivers said.
One player who had everything working for him on was freshman quarterback Jack Weaver (East Union). He was 20 of 31 for 311 yards and five touchdowns and also ran for 112 yards and a touchdown. Backup Brett Neves (Downey) was 3 of 4 for 162 yards and two touchdowns.
“We have been struggling the last couple of weeks so we kind of put some pressure on ourselves because the defense has been doing an outstanding job,” Weaver said. “We want to put pressure on ourselves and take pressure off of the defense.”
Weaver was able to spread the wealth as five receivers caught a touchdown.
“We put a lot on the receivers in practice this week to get their assignments down,” Weaver said. “They had a great night.”
Sophomore Jonah Lewis (Ripon Christian) had four receptions for 223 yards and three touchdowns. All of his touchdowns were over 60 yards.
“Its exciting because Jonah is a hard worker and hasn’t gotten to play much and he got his shot tonight and showed he can get the job done,” Stivers said.
The Pirates’ running backs also were clicking, tallying 305 yards and five touchdowns and averaging 6.7 yards per carry.
Sophomore Devan Bass (Pitman) had seven carries for 64 yards and a touchdown but left in the second quarter with a left shoulder injury. Freshman Cameron Cherry (Oakdale) had three carries for 39 yards and two touchdowns in replace of Bass.
The offense might have been the star in the win but Stivers said the team is still led by its defense, which forced four turnovers and had seven tackles for a loss.
Freshman linebacker Ferrin Manuleleau (Manteca) had two tackles, one tackles for a loss, one interception, and one sack.
The Pirates (5-2, 2-0 Valley Conference), winners of four straight, have a big game Saturday at 1 p.m., when they face Fresno City College (5-2, 2-0)., which beat Sacramento City College 27-23 on Saturday. Fresno also is riding a four-game winning streak.
Weaver said if the the Pirates keep executing on offense, they are going to be tough to stop.
“We just have to keep putting in work and not be complacent,” Weaver said.
This story was originally published October 20, 2018 at 10:47 PM.