Chico Enterprise-Record: Big second half propels Butte College football team past Laney

Chico Enterprise-Record: Big second half propels Butte College football team past Laney
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September 9, 2017

CCCAA Scoreboard: Friday (Sept. 8) | Saturday (Sept. 9)

Courtesy Chico Enterprise-Record

OAKLAND, Calif. - It didn’t look good for the Butte College football team at halftime.

Six sacks of quarterback Easton English had the Roadrunners at minus-2 yards rushing while Laney running back Ahmari Davis had burnt Butte for 174 yards and two touchdowns as the Eagles led 21-14.

The second half, and precisely the third quarter, was all the difference.

The Roadrunners outscored Laney 17-0 in the decisive quarter as part of a 31-21 victory Friday night at Stan Peters Field.

Micah Massey ran for 123 yards and scored three touchdowns of 1, 6 and 17 yards as part of his 22-carry night as Butte improved to 2-0 on the young season.

The Roadrunners, ranked third in the latest JC Athletic Bureau Poll of California Community College Football Coaches, returns home to play Chabot at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16.

Ninth-ranked Laney, which plays its home games on Fridays, was led by Davis’ 214 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 20 carries. But Butte limited him in the second half after he broke off multiple long runs for Laney (1-1).

The teams exchanged TDs in the first half as Butte scored first with a 35-yard TD pass from English to Alvin Harper with 6:23 left in the first quarter.

Deon Crayon set up the score with an interception.

It didn’t take long for Laney to answer, though, as Davis scored on a 2-yard TD run to cap a three-play drive that covered 68 yards.

The Roadrunners went ahead again in the second quarter, this time on Massey’s 1-yard TD run with 9:02 left in the half. He set up his own score with a 30-yard punt return to the Eagles’ 15-yard line.

Laney answered even quicker with a one-play drive thanks to the speed of Davis as he scored on a 77-yard run for his second TD.

The Eagles then went ahead for the first time by blocking a punt with Jahari Kay returning it 16 yards for a touchdown with 2:58 left before halftime and the 21-14 lead that Laney would take into halftime.

But Butte responded by tying the game 90 seconds into the second half thanks to a 64-yard, four-play drive that were all runs by Massey.

Erick Ruiz’s 35-yard field goal broke the 21-all tie with 5:16 left in the third. That came after Jettre Hampton stopped Davis short on fourth-and-1 at the Butte 42.

 

Hampton then forced and recovered a fumble to give the ball to Butte at Laney’s 27 that led to Massey’s 17-yard TD with 2:04 left in the third.