Tiger Football Set For Week One Rematch With DeAnza

If two preseason scrimmages are any indication, Saturday afternoon's Reedley College football season opener at home with the DeAnza College Dons might not be as high scoring as last season.

When Reedley faced DeAnza in the first and last games of the 2018 season, the two teams combined for 187 points and 2,019 yards of total offense. Kinda ironic, isn't it.

The Tigers played a controlled scrimmage with the College of the Sequoias Giants of Visalia on the RC practice field on Aug. 28.

All but two of Reedley's 10 games this season will feature a 1 pm kickoff time. All five home contests, including Saturday's 1 pm opener with DeAnza, will start at 1 pm at Reedley High School's Sal Gonzalez Field.

Both Reedley and DeAnza finished 2018 with 10-1 records. The Tigers outscored the Dons in the opener at Cupertino before DeAnza used a touchdown with 12 seconds remaining to edge Reedley 42-41 in the postseason contest. Both teams are expected to start new quarterbacks.

Fourth year head coach Eric Marty has an entirely new coaching staff in 2019. One of the former assistants, Drew Halstead, is now the head coach at Immanuel High School.

Marty said that he has been impressed with the play of linebackers LaXavier Moore (Thomason GA) and Paul Moreno (Selma), who has bulked up from last season.

"We will be pretty young in the secondary," said Marty. Emylle Jones, an all-conference selection last year, will anchor the defensive line. A key defensive back could be Francisco Ayon (Redwood, Visalia).

"We have a lot of really talented guys," said he coach. Playing key roles on the defensive line will be Jay Vance (Edison) and Okiki Olorunfunmi (Clovis North).

Returning wide receivers are Reedley High grad Maverick Meeker and Andy Pierre-Antoine (North Miami FA).

Two former Monache Marauders, tight end Daniel Baca and tackle Austin Habich, will play key roles on the Tiger offense.

On a related note, former Tiger defensive back Rolan Milligan made the final 53-man roster of the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday.

The Tigers 2019 schedule

Sept. 7 DEANZA, 1 pm

Sept. 14 at Yuba, 1 pm

Sept. 21 CONTRA COSTA, 1 pm

Sept. 28 at Foothill, 7 pm

Oct. 5 at Cabrillo, 1 pm

Oct. 19 GAVILAN, 1 pm

Oct. 26 at San Jose, 1 pm

Nov. 2 MERCED, 1 pm

Nov. 9 at Monterey Peninsula, 6 pm

Nov. 16 HARTNELL, 1 p.m.

 

Home games in caps, will be played at Reedley High School All games will be streamed live on Facebook Live

 

 

By: Will Goldbeck