In the last two football seasons, the Reedley College Tiger football team is undefeated in 10 road games.
The latest win on Saturday night in Monterey netted Reedley a second straight American Golden Coast Conference championship. It came against a previously undefeated team.
The 58-38 road win over the Monterey Peninsula College Lobos improved Head Coach Eric Marty's Tigers to 8-1 overall and 5-0 in conference play while MPC fell to 8-1 and 4-1.
With the victory, Reedley will probably get a rematch with the undefeated Foothill College Owls for the Northern California American Division championship in Los Altos Hills on Nov. 23. Reedley is expected to receive the bowl bid on Sunday.
But first things first. The Tigers will end the regular season this Saturday at Reedley High School's Sal Gonzalez Field with a 1 pm matchup against the Hartnell College Panthers. Last Saturday, Hartnell improved to 3-2 in conference action and 6-3 overall with a 20-3 road win over Los Medanos.
"I'm really proud of the way our players and staff prepared for such a huge challenge," said Coach Marty. "Having to go to undefeated MPC to win the conference and them just competing their butts off for four quarters to get the job done. I'm extremely proud of our team, our growth together, and what we were able to accomplish tonight."
The list of individual stars for the Tigers was a long one.
Quarterback Armon Hickson completed 12 of 15 passes for 192 yards and five touchdowns.
Tight ends John Calderon and Daniel Baca each caught two scoring passes while River Walker and Andy Pierre-Antoine pulled in one each.
Running back Jamon Chambers had another huge night, finishing with a season-best 213 yards rushing on 23 carries (an average of 9.3 yards per attempt) and two touchdowns. He also threw a 15-yard scoring pass to Calderon.
The Tiger defense recorded eight quarterback sacks, four by Okiki Olorunfunmi. They finished with 10 tackles for a loss. Linebacker Paul Moreno led the way with 11 total tackles, eight solo while Jay Vance had 3.5 tackles for a loss Reedley broke a 21-21 tie with 9:23 left in the first half on a 31-yard touchdown run by Chambers before leading 38-24 at halftime.
Monterey Peninsula pulled to within 51-38 with 1:49 remaining before Chambers closed out the scoring 20 seconds later with a 66-yard touchdown run.
Reedley is currently fourth in the state and first in Northern California in scoring at 47.6 points per game.
Bt: Will Goldbeck
