Panthers come out on top after back-and-forth battle with Jaguars

Sacramento City College’s football team hosted the San Jose Jaguars in a sunny Saturday afternoon game for their first home game of the season, that came down to the wire but ultimately won by the Sacramento City College Panthers. The Panthers started off the game strong, with the home team getting an early lead, thanks to an explosive 37-yard touchdown run by running back Jackson Tallent-Burlson. Eventually, after a lot of back and forth, the Jaguars were able to answer with a touchdown in the second quarter scored by Tight End Cody Ahola, evening the score to seven all.

The Panthers were quick in their response, making a decisive drive of 67 yards in less than 2 minutes back down the field with the final charge to the end zone carried out by wide receiver Devin Stephens to break back into the lead. With just 3:53 left in the second quarter the only other scoring that occurred was a kick by the Jaguars to bring the score through the first half to 14 to 10 Panthers.

However, the second half started off with a bang for City College, as Panthers quarterback Jason Wilson fired a 67-yard rocket to running back Jack Carner, to bring their lead into the double digits. This newfound lead didn’t leave the Jaguars cowed though, as they continued to battle in the 3rd quarter after four back and forth possessions, San Jose managed to quickly punch deep into Sacramento territory and with just one minute left in the 3rd scored a touchdown off a 32-yard pass from quarterback Cedeno Chavez to Jaalen Mhoon on a play from 4th and 29. This cut the lead down to just four points for the Panthers and amped the pressure up a notch with the Jaguars at their heels.

Early in the 4th quarter, the Jaguars showed just how determined they were to pull ahead and with a 29-yard field goal they were trailing by just one point at 20-21. Sacramento wouldn’t let this stand for unanswered and on the next drive they put away a field goal to bring their lead to a more comfortable 24 to 20. With just six minutes left in the game, the Jaguars managed to rush a touchdown putting them in the lead for the first time in the game, but they didn’t reign for long.

With 47 yards to go in just 2:22 Sacramento battled for every yard, and their effort paid off when a quarterback sneak for the last yard, scored by QB Jason Wilson put the final nail in the coffin.
After the game, Wilson reflected on what helped their team pull out the victory in the end. “I feel like just having [a] resilient effort. We kind of talked about that all week, and I thought we really implemented it today.”

When asked about the emotions running through the team when the game was coming down to the wire, quarterback coach and former City College player Sean Nixon stated, “It was definitely tense, but it was also confidence at the same time. You know, these guys have been working very hard since spring and winter.”

The Panthers’ next game is a home at Hughes Stadium on Friday, Sept. 12 against Sierra College at 6 p.m.