Tigers Take Down Vikings to Kick Off New Era
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#18 Long Beach (0-1) | 3 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 30 |
|
#3 Riverside (1-0) | 14 | 12 | 7 | 20 | 53 |
No. 3-ranked Riverside City College began a new era Saturday under first-year head coach Kevin Craft, opening the season with a 53-30 victory over No. 18-ranked Long Beach City College.
The Tigers begin the year at 1-0, while the Vikings open at 0-1 on the year.
RCC finished with 565 total offensive yards, including 338 passing yards and 227 rushing.
Bryan Wilson went 17-for-24 with two touchdowns, while Jared Doolittle finished 13-for-17 with three touchdowns. Kayvion Sibley and Jonathan Marshall each ran in touchdowns, while Ross Nickson III had three touchdown catches. Donovan Ferguson and Logan Quates also caught touchdown passes for the Tigers.
Long Beach scored first off a 32-yard field goal, but RCC answered back with back-to-back touchdowns from Marshall and Nickson.
The Tigers built a 10-point lead at halftime, but the Vikings battled back in the third and pulled within just three points with 4:46 left in the quarter.
Nickson put Riverside back up by 10 points off a 30-yard touchdown pass from Doolittle before Quates caught a 33-yard touchdown pass to start the fourth quarter.
After RCC jumped out to a 47-23 lead, Long Beach tried to rally and scored with just over three minutes left in the game, but Sibley took any air out of the Vikings' sails with a 74-yard touchdown run on just the second play of RCC's drive, 53-30.
Riverside hits the road for the next two weeks, first taking on Golden West College next Saturday at noon.
