Modesto Junior College pulls out thrilling victory over Laney College
A dominating running game. A stifling defense. Great special teams. A potential game-saving tackle.
Not bad for opening night.
Anthony Frias rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns and defensive back Lamar Johnson came up with a key tackle with no time left to lead the Modesto Junior College football team to a thrilling come-from-behind 35-28 victory over Laney College on Friday night in Oakland.
“It’s hard to win on the road,” MJC coach Rusty Stivers said. “We didn’t get to scrimmage because of the air and COVID. We went into the game and it was like a scrimmage in the first half. Even though we struggled, our guys stayed calm and collected.”
Indeed.
The Pirates (1-0) allowed two long plays for touchdowns in the first half and trailed 21-14 at halftime.
Stivers gathered his team at the intermission, made some adjustments and watched as the Pirates played a near-perfect second half.
Frias tied the game at 21 toward the end of the third quarter with a 30-yard burst up the middle on 4th-and 2. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Lucas Curtis scored on a 13-yard run, plowing over the final defenders from the 3 to make it 28-21.
After Laney tied it at 28 with 8 minutes, 16 seconds left in the game, Curtis figured big on the go-ahead score.
On third-and-6 from the Laney 35, Curtis, draped by a defender, hauled in a perfect pass from quarterback Gino Campiotti, who was under extreme pressure. That gave the Pirates a first-and-goal from the 7, and moments later, Frias scored on a 10-yard run.
Laney got the ball back with just under five minutes left. After 11 plays, the Eagles had a first-and-goal at the MJC 5. three plays later, they were faced with a 4th-and-goal from the 1 with two seconds left.
Laney running back Archie Cole swept left, and MJC’s Johnson came up from his DB spot, grabbed his leg and the rest of the defense buried Cole for a 4-yard loss.
Seconds later, the celebration began.
Stivers gave credit to his special teams, including kick returner Jacob DeJesus, kicker Nathan Valdez and punter Dalton Durossette, who allowed the Pirates to win the field position game.
While it’s only a Week 1 victory, and with Sierra coming to Modesto next week, the importance of winning their first game since they last played in November of 2019 – a 41-0 loss to College of San Mateo in the NorCal championship game – was not lost on Stivers.
“I think this had more significance because a majority of the kids hadn’t played in two years,” he said. “It was more just enjoying being back on the field instead of worrying about the outcome of the game.”
This story was originally published September 4, 2021 at 2:49 AM.
