Laney downs Fresno City, 24-7, to gain berth in state championship game

Laney downs Fresno City, 24-7, to gain berth in state championship game
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November 24, 2018
OAKLAND - Quarterback Jordan Brookshire accounted  for 173 yards and John McDonald rushed for 102 yards as Laney College defeated visiting Fresno City College, 24-7, to win the Northern California Football Conference title Saturday night.
 
Laney (10-2), the Bay 6 League runner-up (to San Mateo) will play Northern League runner-up Ventura (11-1) in the 1 p.m. California Community College Athletic Association title game at Sacramento City College's Hughes Stadium. This is the first time both at-large qualifiers have advanced to the state title game.
 
Ventura upset unbeaten Riverside City College, 31-21, in the Southern California Football Association finals Saturday night. In the first round of the playoffs, the previous week, the Pirates eliminated the state's other unbeaten, top-ranked College of the Canyons, 24-13. Canyons had given Ventura its only loss during Northern League play. Laney, in similar fashion, beat San Mateo, 14-0, in the NorCal semifinals to avenge an earlier Bay 6 league loss to the Bulldogs.
 
After Laney had scored in the first quarter Saturday, Fresno came back to tie it on Jonah Johnson's 82-yard pass play to Malik White with 7:23 left in the second period. Laney went ahead for good five minutes later when Kerrion Hadnot carried the ball 11 yards to the goal line, where he fumbled into the end zone and Balewa Byrd recovered for the Eagles' TD.
 
Laney extended the lead in the third quarter on a 25-yard field goal by Isaak Parada and a 1-yard TD rush by Harold Tidwell to complete a 65-yard, 11-play drive.
 
Brookshire completed 13 of 21 passes for 127 yards and rushed 11 times for 46 yards and Laney's first touchdown. McDonald carried 16 times for his 102 yards. Angelo Garrett caught five passes for 57 yards and Jared Smart had three receptions for 38 yards for the Eagles.
 
Fresno quarterback Johnson completed 13 of 27 passes for 192 yards. Wesley Graves led the Rams on the ground with 45 yards on nine carries.
 
Laney had 327 yards of offense and limited the Rams to 262. Leading the Eagles defense were linebacker Armani Turner-Jenkins with 11 tackles (7 solo, including a sack and two pass break-ups; also defensive back Da'Meak Brandon with five solo tackles. There were no turnovers in the game.
 
(Fred Baer)