SRJC edges Sac City, 32-31

Desmond Nisby broke five tackles on his way to the winning score as Santa Rosa JC remained undefeated with a 32-31 victory at Sacramento City College on Saturday night.

Nisby, who played high school ball at Anderson Valley, got his 25-yard touchdown with four minutes remaining. The Bear Cubs then missed a 2-point conversion.

Nisby took the ball straight up the middle and five Sacramento defenders got a hand on him.

“He wasn’t going to be denied,” coach Lenny Wagner said. “He just put his head down and kept driving toward the end zone.”

The home team got the ball twice in the final minutes. The Panthers were stopped once on an interception and then turned the ball over on downs.

Santa Rosa trailed until scoring the game’s final touchdown. The Bear Cubs were down by seven at halftime and five at the end of three quarters.

Santa Rosa came out flat, according to Wagner.

“I was afraid that would happen,” he said. “Last Saturday, we beat Butte, the No. 1 team in the nation. It was emotional. Coming off such a big win, a team can have a letdown in the next game.

“This game was like a perfect storm. We didn’t play very well and Sacramento did. We were sloppy. We were penalized a lot and gave up a lot of sacks. Meanwhile, Sacramento was on. I bet they passed for more than 400 yards.”

There were some bright spots in the lackluster performance. Poueu Gore (Rancho Cotate) and Natu Hezchias (Piner) each had an interception while Ethan Roselli (Santa Rosa) and Will Wowkanyn also played solid defense.

Christian McAlvain went all the way at quarterback and threw three scoring passes and one interception.

“He did a good job of managing the game,” Wagner said of the former Windsor High star. “He got sacked a few times but overall did a decent job.”

In addition to Nisby, the Bear Cubs got two touchdowns from Terrence Drew and one from Brandon Singh (Casa Grande).

“We didn’t play nearly as well in this game as we did in our first two wins,” Wagner said. “But it’s the mark of a good team that they can win when it’s not at its best.”

This past week, the Bear Cubs were ranked No. 3 in the CCCAA Northern California poll and No. 5 in the state.

Santa Rosa will be at home the next two Saturdays, against Laney and then Sequoia. Both games kick off at 5 p.m.