Having perhaps his best performance of the season, quarterback Bo Napoleon stepped onto the field on Saturday night ready to shred the Citrus College defense and restore order for the Warriors.
With the help of Napoleon, the Warriors had a 35-12 win over Citrus, having a victorious homecoming game.
The Warriors next game is Saturday at Cerritos College at 7p.m. in Falcon Stadium. The Falcons are ranked No. 9, while the Warriors are ranked No. 5, according to JCGridiron.com.
“Cerritos is a fine football team and they won eight straight games and were ranked No. 1 last week in Southern California, before losing to Mt. SAC in double overtime. So they know they have to beat us to get into the playoffs and we know we have to beat them to get into the playoffs,” coach John Featherstone said. “We always have good games against Cerritos and we’re playing for the old Milk Can bowl.”
The Warriors know that if they win, they’re in the playoffs, but if they lose, they’re going to a bowl game.
The Warriors got off to a slow start in the first half, putting up just 14 points.
“When you’re coming off a tough loss sometimes you have what’s called a ‘loss hangover.’ That is when you don’t quite play as good to start off with. I think our defense played well, and offensively we probably should have scored another time,” Featherstone said.
Late in the second quarter coach Featherstone took out quarterback Matt Simms and replaced him with Napoleon.
“I usually play the second team quarterback at least in one series in the second quarter of the game. I want Bo to have a chance to go out there in the second quarter and keep him in more than one series because he does a pretty good job,” Featherstone said. “I started Matt in the second half, and I just felt after the first couple of series that I needed to put Bo back in there so I put him back in there and he had a great game for us.”
Napoleon was ready to play and waiting for his number to be called on.
“It always feels good to play. I don’t get to play too often but when I get in there I want to make plays for my team,” Napoleon said. “I was happy to play and help my team win the game.”
The Warriors came out strong after halftime and put up 21 points in the third quarter.
“Yeah, I thought we played good in the second half. We played good defense the whole game, but we were a little spotty in the first half offensively. Sometimes when you’re coming off a loss it takes a while to get back in the groove again, but we played solid on both sides of the ball in the second half,” Featherstone said.
“We just needed to win again, so now it puts us in a situation where it’s down to one game. Our goal is to make the playoffs,” Featherstone said.
“Yeah it was a good win. I feel like we needed that so we could regain strength and head into our showdown with Cerritos on Saturday,” running back Tony Sekona said.
The Warriors had 476 yards of offense, including 84 yards on the ground and 392 on the air.
On offense, backup quarterback Napoleon went 13-15 for 273 yards and three touchdowns.
Wide receiver Kenbrell Thompkins had nine catches for 148 yards and two touchdown scores.
Running back Ken Ashley had 65 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown score.
On defense, linebacker Dionte Brooks had six tackles and a quarterback sack.
Defensive line Daniel Stewart had six tackles and a force fumble and a quarterback sack, which was his 20 quarterback sack that set a school record.
“I feel good about it and it was one of my goals to start off the season with and if I set the record, we would have a good season,” Stewart said.
