The undefeated Fresno City College Rams blew past Modesto Junior College 34-17 in a game where the Pirates were hoping to pay the Rams back from last season’s wild and crazy victory.
With a 5-1 record, Modesto was fighting to take the first place position in the division away from the Rams.
They also had a chip on their shoulders due to last season’s in which the Rams’ players ran off the field without doing the traditional shaking of hands.
In Saturday’s match up, Modesto scored first when running back Markus Sanders ran the ball into the end zone from one yard out
The Rams offense responded when quarterback Lance Orender hit wide receiver Leroy Travis with a nine yard pass to tie the game at the 6:02 mark of the first quarter.
Orender threw for five touchdowns in the game while Tavis caught 10 passes for 138 yards and one touchdown pass.
The Rams went into the halftime up 14 to 10, and aggressively clamped down on the Pirates with their physical and swarming defense. Their offense also found its rhythm by putting 20 more points on the board.
With 9:18 left in the third quarter,  quarterback Orender connected with wide receiver Trent Hicks from six yards out and the Rams went up 20 to 10.
Both teams aggressively fought it out for the rest of the third quarter, and neither put any points on the board after the Rams scored at the 9:18 mark.
The Rams went up 27 to 10 in the fourth quarter when they worked the ball down the field in nine plays. The drive ended when Orender hit wide receiver Ronald Thompson on a four yard touchdown pass.
With the game out of hand, The Modesto Pirates still played hard and put up the final points on the board in the waning minutes of the game. They worked the ball 85 yards in four plays, and it ended when the Pirates quarterback, Quinton McCown connected with wide receiver Ronye Ellington for a nine yard touchdown pass.
But the Rams closed the door for good with a 51 yard touchdown catch from Ronald Thompson.
“We put our heart into this game,” said Thompson, we didn’t want to lose; we didn’t want to give up without a fight.”
Caviglia was proud of his team,  but he still thought his team “made it harder” for themselves in the first half as they missed two field goals and left points on the field.
“I am really proud of how these guys competed and how they adjusted to the way Modesto was playing,” said Caviglia.
Sam Young, head coach of the Pirates said, “We made more mistakes than Fresno City did and that was indicated by the score .We turned the ball over more and had more penalties; they didn’t turn the ball over and had fewer penalties and there it is there.”
This time Coach Caviglia made sure his players were in the middle of the field to shake hands.