American River College’s football team is undefeated and ranked first in the state after beating College of the Siskiyous over the weekend, 33-31, with starting quarterback Tanner Trosin throwing five touchdowns.
The top ranking came two weeks ago, after a home victory against then No. 1 ranked and undefeated College of San Mateo propelled ARC (6-0) to be voted No. 1 by the California Community College Football Coaches Association.
One main concern of first-time head coach Jon Osterhout was his team’s frequency to turn the ball over. Against San Mateo, ARC had six total turnovers; four fumbles and two interceptions.
Osterhout was confident that it was a problem that could be corrected, and said “We’re gonna continue to get better, because these kids practice hard, do things in the right way, and they believe.”
Against Siskiyous (3-3), the Beavers had only two turnovers, an interception and a fumble. Not perfect, but possibly a step forward.
Another good sign was Trosin’s play. Against San Mateo, Trosin was inconsistent, and threw two interceptions and lost one fumble.
Despite his turnovers, Trosin also lead the team as a dual threat early in the game, helping them get out to a 14-0 lead.
“It’s just how you respond back on the next play,” Trosin said of the turnovers. “You don’t look back on what you’ve done, you move forward.”
Against Siskiyous, the scrambling quarterback and the rest of the offense came up empty after their first three drives, but Trosin threw touchdowns on the fourth and fifth drives.
Trosin was then taken out the next drive for backup Peyton Wilfley, who has received playing time in every game this season. Wilfley threw two passes, the second being an interception returned by Siskiyous’ Anthony Ocasio for a touchdown.
Wilfley didn’t see the field again, and Trosin came back into the game and threw three more touchdowns, finishing the game 24-33, for 278 yards and five touchdown passes total.
The two point win wouldn’t have looked so close if not for the Siskiyous’ two touchdowns in the last five minutes of the game.
ARC’s goal going forward will be to keep the streak alive, something the team failed to do last year after a 7-0 start.
Sophomore receiver Jjuan Muldrow, who caught two touchdown passes from Trosin against Siskiyous, said after defeating San Mateo that he believes ARC deserved to be ranked first, and that he also thinks going undefeated in the regular season is an attainable goal.
“We just got to push harder now because every team is gonna want the best shot of us since we just beat the number one team,” Muldrow said.
