The Butte College Roadrunners rolled over Fresno City College on their way to a 31-17 victory in the State Center Bowl on Nov. 17.
The Roadrunners relied heavily on their running backs to come away with the win on Saturday afternoon.
Butte came into the game ranked at No. 1 and with a record of 9-1 after defeating San Francisco 31-21 last week. San Francisco handed FCC one of their two losses this season, the other coming against American River. FCC held on to its No. 4 ranking after a 31-0 rout of College of the Sequoias a week earlier. Both teams came in as co-champions of their conferences. Butte split the championship of the Nor-Cal Conference with San Francisco and FCC shared the title of the Valley Conference with American River.
The rain from the hours before the game left the field muddy, making punt and kickoff returns more difficult. Players from both teams were slipping and sliding throughout the game on returns.
Butte got off to a quick offensive start scoring on their first two drives. They scored the first touchdown on a 32-yard run by Cameron Mikell and the second on a 12-yard pass from Wes McCoy to Bo Brummell.
The Rams offense didn’t help the situation to begin the game. Freshman quarterback Robert Bender threw two interceptions to end the first two FCC drives in the first quarter. Butte defensive back Donzale Ashley picked off both of those passes. Bender would be replaced by Quarterback Trey Mitchell in the third quarter.
Taking advantage of the turnovers and the Rams’ slow start, Butte held a 21-3 lead at halftime.
FCC head coach Tony Caviglia said, “We really didn’t play very well and Butte played almost flawlessly. We made some mistakes and that got us in trouble.”
Both teams also committed penalties that cost them valuable yardage. The Rams committed costly penalties at crucial moments throughout the game. They finished the game with nine penalties that cost them 125 yards while the roadrunners committed nine penalties that cost them 92 yards.
FCC also lost two key players. Running back James Holland was ejected in the third quarter after a questionable tackle by a Butte player and wide receiver Anthony Yancy was ejected in the fourth quarter after shoving a Butte defender after the play.
Butte running backs Derek Seward, Cameron Mikell and Armand Bokitch all split the workload and scored a touchdown each. The Roadrunners would run for 224 yards while the Rams had a total of 107 rushing yards.
Butte running back Armand Bokitch said “It was a great game. It was a slow start for us but in the second half we had to capitalize and ended up with a W.”
The Rams seemed to have favored the passing game as they threw for 215 yards while Butte only had 42 passing yards in the game.
After the game, Caviglia looked back on the season and talked about what his squad had accomplished.
“We had a lot of adversity, we worked hard and the guys were a great group to be around. They persevered, they showed great character and the ability to prepare themselves to be winners,” said Caviglia.
FCC sophomore linebacker Kenny Castle said “It was tough but it was a good ride. It has been fun playing with all these guys, it was definitely a good year.”
Rams defensive back Duron Singleton added “I wish we could’ve won but it was a great year. We had a good season, a hard fought season with a few ups and down but we got through it and still made it to a bowl game so we’re thankful for that.”
