ARC football team advance to the NCFC Championship
During the first round of the playoffs, ARC defeated Laney College by a final score of 43-21 on Nov. 26 in Oakland
After beating Laney College 43-21, the American River College football team travels to the NCFC Championship to play San Mateo College on Dec. 3 (Photo by Carla Montaruli)
American River College moved to the Northern California Football Conference Championship, after defeating Laney College 43-21 on Nov. 26 in Oakland.
The Beavers were focused and ready to achieve the goal that they’ve been working for all season, especially because they wanted to get payback from their last game, when they lost 13-9 to the Eagles.
ARC dominated the first half of the game; the team didn’t give any chance to the opponent to score and ended at half time being up by 14-0, after scoring the second touchdown in the last few seconds of the second quarter.
The first touchdown was scored after a 37-yard pass from Kenneth Lueth to Grayson Barnens, while the second one was a successful 1-yard run by Ian Simpson.
Right from the beginning of the second half, the team was up one more touchdown after a special teams 93-yard kickoff return by Robert Freeman.
After which, ARC ran a fake and scored 2 points, instead of a field goal.
The Beavers concentrated on following the coaches’ directions. It paid off and the team scored again after a 64-yard pass by Lueth to Simpson.
Later, Laney College scored a 15-yard rushing touchdown by the quarterback.
At this point of the game, the score was 29-7, with the Beavers leading.
The Beavers didn’t show any sign of distraction, they stayed focused and right at the beginning of the fourth quarter they scored, a 5-yard pass from Lueth to Simpson.
The game was not over yet, Laney was still trying and scored two touchdowns during the last quarter.
The first was a 41-yards passing touchdown, while the second one was a 92-yard pick six.
The Beavers had to react and end the game. That’s what they did by scoring the last touchdown of the game, with a 5-yard run by Kacie Riley.
This brought the final score to 43-21 and the win for ARC.
Both offense and defense played an important role during the game. ARC had a total of 462 yards on offense and the defense allowed Laney College to get just 219 yards.
The Beavers’ time of possession was 32:50, compared to Laney’s 27:10.
ARC will face San Mateo College on Dec. 3 to determine NCFC Champions.
The winner of this game will compete at the State Championship against the winner between Riverside City College versus Fullerton College.
