Feather River Knocks off #7 Chabot

Just a quick update regarding Saturday's game against #7 ranked Chabot. Final score was 47-14.  

Wes' comments...

"Oh it felt great!!!! We killed them!! I played well- I really felt good about the way I played and contributed! I had a few solid plays that helped out. It was really fun. Our defensive unit has really meshed and we just stayed cranked up and hyped the whole game and they had no answer!"

No box scores posted yet, I'll update the blog as they become available over the next few days.

The next two games are going to prove interesting.  Number 9 ranked Siskiyous played #16 ranked Diablo Valley on Saturday as well.  Siskiyous pulled off the close win 24-21 in overtime.  Feather River plays Siskiyous next Saturday at Siskiyous and then Diablo Valley the next week as the regular season closer...at Diablo Valley. (Remember...this game is supposed to be available on UPSTREAM TV)  Feather River, Siskiyous, and Diablo Valley are number 1, 2, and 3 respectively in the Mid Empire region in the Central Division.  Two more wins for Feather River would mean an undefeated conference season and a bowl game...hang on to your seats...this could get exciting!

Just as a heads up...because of the hundreds of community college football teams in California, there are three polls in California Community College football...a Northern California poll, a Southern California poll, and a statewide poll.  I usually reference the Northern California poll.  However, coming into this game, in the state California Community Colleges Football Coaches Association poll, Chabot was ranked #13 statewide and Feather River was ranked #19.

Go Golden Eagles...

Another one Bites the Dust...down goes Sacramento City College

Another great game for Feather River...

Wes played well ending up with 5 tackles and one pass break up.  This win moved Feather River up 2 spots to the 11th spot in the Northern California rankings.  The game this week is against Chabot, ranked #7.  I just got off the phone with Wes and he said it is going to be a tough game, but they feel confident that they can win it if they can keep the momentum on their side.

Here is the writeup for the Sacramento City College game...until next week!!

QUINCY - Feather River dominates Sacramento City College Panthers (1-6; 0-3), 41-8. Feather River College (5-2; 1-0) rolled up 226 rushing yards and sophomore running back Farrell Victor (Las Vegas H.S.) collected the bulk of those yards, rushing for 203 yards including a 66 yard touchdown.  Victor broke Tim Hansen's record for single season rushing yards 851, and Christian Thompson's career mark, 940, and still has 3 games left int he season to push both marks much higher.  On the season Victor has 977 yards rushing and 13 rushing touchdowns.

Freshman quarterback Ja'Quay Garmon (South Fulton H.S.) was 20 of 36 for 407 yards passing throwing for a Feather River College game record 5 touchdowns.  Garmon also shattered the single season touchdowns record, as he has now thrown for 21 touchdowns, breaking the mark held by Tyler Pine (17).  Garmon figures to add many more onto his season total, which will inevitiably take him towards the career mark also held by Tyler Pine (27). 

Sophomore wide receiver Miguel Cerriteno (Las Vegas H.S) had just five catches, but they were all pivotal and 3 of them were for explosive touchdowns of 39, 62 and 38.  Cerriteno's ended the game with 173 receiving yards.  LaVon Pearson, the Golden Eagles top wide receiver had 8 catches for 150 yards, including a breathtaking 78 yard touchdown early in the first quarter.  Drake White also got into the scoring action with a 43 yard reception from Garmon.  White would end the game with 4 catches for 75 yards.

The biggest stat of the night had to be the yardage difference between both teams as Feather River combined for 633 yards, despite having 6 offensive turnovers, while the Panthers could only amass 232 total yards of offense.  The Feather River defense truly punished the Sacramento City offense.

Feather River sophomore defensive lineman Brandon Boykins (Hug H.S.) added some fireworks all throughout the game.  He led the team with 14 total tackles, assisting on 8, including 1.5 tackles for a loss of 4 yards.  Kyle Newsom played exceptionally well adding 3 sacks, pushing his season total to 8 for the year.  Cade Rogers intercepted a Sacramento City pass, Daishun Jackson intercepted a pass and not to be outdone, Tajmire Flood added one of his own that topped the difficulty meter basically stealing the ball away from the receiver.  Ryan LeRoy also played well totaling 7 tackles.  The Golden Eagles defense ended the game with 14 tackles for loss.

Up next for the Golden Eagles is the Chabot Gladiators, (5-2, 2-0) at home.  Game time is 3PM.

A quick heads up - the last game of the season is November 15th against Diablo Valley College.  It appears that this game is going to be televised on USTREAM TV.  I can't guarantee the quality or even that it will actually happen, but if you follow the below link, it looks pretty legit...I'm sure hoping so.  I think you may need to register with USTREAM TV (no cost) on their website to be able to see the game...

USTREAM TV

GO GOLDEN EAGLES!!!

Golden Eagles keep the pedal to the metal in Yuba with a 53-21 victory...

Chalk up another victory for the Golden Eagles of Feather River.  This past week was an away game at Yuba and another victory.

Wes played very little as Yuba has a strong running offence and Wes starts on the pass defence squad.  He did get some reps early, and then due to a minor injury, he got in for a majority of the fourth quarter.    Unfortunately, whoever was keeping stats didn't seem to notice that he played - the stats show that Wes didn't play.  He assures me that he did and had some great tackles...here is a little more info...

Golden Eagles keep the pedal to the metal in Yuba

This coming week is a bye week...no games.  So...it seemed to be a great time to post the latest recruiting video that was just completed by NCSA...check out the video highlights for 2013...some pretty good hits in there!

Wes Christensen - NCSA Profile

Should be a good rest for the team as they get ready for their games with Sacramento College next week.  Here is a great article that mentions Wes and his contribution to the defense as this team continues to get better and better...

#24 Golden Eagles sit idle this week

Not much more to say...Sacramento has more of a passing game, so Wes should see more action next week.  Until next time...

75-45 Homecoming win...and a #25 ranking....go Golden Eagles!

Sorry - a combination of a long trip back to Saudi Arabia and jet lag has resulted in a tardy and rather short report for last weeks game.  Feather River handily won Shasta college in their homecoming game, 75-45.  This brings the Golden Eagles to a 3-2 record and finds them ranked #25 in the state CCCFCA coaches' poll.

It was a beautiful evening for a football game with lots of hometown cheering as well as parents from both sides of the family as well as Wes' grandparents attending the game.  Once the sun went down, it got pretty chilly but the "5th Quarter" at the local pizza parlor (where both Kelsey and Hailey are employed) gave us a chance to warm up and discuss the game.

As you would imagine, given the score, the second string and third string had a great chance to play a majority of the game so Wes didn't see as much action as is typical.  I'm sure that will change today in Yuma.  Even with his limited playing time, Wes had four tackles...one for a loss.

We are looking forward to hearing all about today's game at Yuma...more info shortly!

Here is a newspaper piece on last weeks game if you are interested in more info.

Feather River College smashes Shasta College at home, 75-45

Bryon Hughes

Oct. 07, 2013 Football

QUINCY —The Feather River College football team, ranked No. 25 in the state in the CCCFCA coaches' poll, overpowered rival Shasta College 75-45 on Saturday night.  The Golden Eagles (3-2) handed the Knights (2-3) their third straight loss in brutal fashion.  Feather River racked up 699 yards of total offense, including 112 yards on the ground from Farrell Victor and 76 more from Ryan Hoyos   Both scored touchdowns, with Victor tying the record for most rushing touchdowns in a game, with four.  Ja'Quay Garmon was 10 of 15 passing for 271 yards and four touchdowns before leaving the game with what was considered a non-serious injury.  Timothy Herman stepped in for him not missing a beat, going 16 of 20 for an additional 221 yards and two more touchdowns.  LaVon Pearson was special as always garnering 9 catches for 222 yards and three touchdowns.  Not to be outdone, Miguel Cerriteno had 7 catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns.  In addition to Pearson and Cerritino, North Logan High School's Beau Artist checked in with his first touchdown of the year catching a nice pass from Herman in the corner and jogging across the line to put the Golden Eagles up 68-30.  Feather River scored on 8 of its first 9 drives, with the 9th drive coming with just a few seconds left in the half.

Defensively, the Golden Eagles punished the Knights quarterbacks, compiling defensive sack and tackle for loss statistics.  The Golden Eagles sacked the Shasta quarterbacks 3 times, as well as 7 plays made behind the line of scrimmage resulting in tackles for loss.  Defensive leader Kyle Newsom had 12 tackles pacing the Golden Eagles, while Otis Williams, Cade Rogers,and David Vicondoa each added 6 tackles each.  Brandon Boykins and Jose Cerriteno both had timely forced fumbles that were recovered by the Golden Eagles, and Andrew Dubois broke up 3 passes.

Up next for the Golden Eagles is a business trip to Marysville, Ca. to visit the (2-2) 49ers of Yuba College.  Game time is 6PM.

Another Great Win...another exciting game!

What a beautiful day for a football game.  Mornings are definately on the cool side, but by the time game time arrived, it was warm and pleasant - a perfect fall day.

The game was great - although the officials seemed much more interested in calling penalties than letting them play...a total of 28 penalties (16 attributed to Feather River) for a whopping total of 287 yards (165 yards for Feather River).  One highly memorable call was an unsportsmanlike conduct call as Pearson 'high stepped' the last 10 yards into the end zone after a particularly spectacular reception...the touchdown was called back and resulted in a turnover on downs with no score.  I didn't realize that high stepping into the end zone was considered unsportsmanlike but I guess it is.

The end result was a 41-28 win against Merced college.  It was a difficult day for Merced College as the ambulance had to take two of their players to the local hospital after some strong tackling by the Golden Eagles.

Thee is very little this week by way of printed news, so you are going to get personal pictures and information from my perpective...

Wes had a great game (jersey #21 above)...he ended up with 6 tackles in the game which gives him a total of 28 tackles (7 per game average).

Here is another tackle in conjunction with Nate Stroshine (#31) his high school and Snow College playing buddy!  Incidentally, this tackle resulted in the offensive player being transported to the hospital due to the strong hit coming from the defensive player on the far left...it was quite the hit.

Wes came close to intercepting this long pass...his tip ultimately made it an incomplete pass and was recoreded as a breakup in his stats.

Wes also had a great interception during the last couple minutes of the game as Merced was threatening to score.  He intercepted it in the endzone and returned it 17 yards breaking a number of tackles before being forced out of bounds.

He had a great game and it was great to be able to share it with him (as I sat in the stands with Kelsey and Hailey (Nate's wife)).

A couple of my favorite pictures...

This was a great catch by teammate Drake White (#81) that ended up with a touchdown...a great reach and extra effort.

Now that is what I call going flat out for a tackle...

Yet another wonderful day of football.  This weeks game is against Shasta College at home in Quincy at 5:00pm.  It is homecoming so it should be another great game.  I have resigned myself to the fact that there is no such thing as radio or video coverage for any of these games, so it is great to be able to attend them...although that opportunity is quickly coming to a close for this season.  This week will be an extra special game as Kelsey's parents will be coming to attend as well as Wes's Grandma and Grandpa Christensen (my folks).  We will have a greatly expanded cheer section and cheer them on to another victory!

Until next week!  Thanks for following along!

Big Win - the first time FRC has ever beat Delta College!

What a great game at Delta College!  I have been telling everyone that is rained the entire second half except for the last 2 minutes of the game...and it absolutely poured the first half.  Yup...Dad is a whimp and needed some rain gear!

I had the pleasure of sitting next to the amazing Mrs. Wesley Christensen for the game as we got soaked to the core - but it was great to be there and see Wes and the Golden Eagles in action.  He had a great game with 7 more tackles and a fumble recovery.  Here is a much better recap on the game...

http://athletics.frc.edu/news/2013/9/22/fb_0922133440.aspx

Wes' stats so far look pretty good...he is averaging 7.3 tackles a game...not bad for the safety.  The defense looked really good last week...they made some key plays and really kept the team in the game.  Looking forward a great game tomorrow.

Tomorrow's game is against Merced College and is definately a possible win.  Following is the preview of the game.  Sorry...couldn't seem to get the link on my iPad, so I did the cut and paste thing...

Pearson, Newsom and Golden Eagles prepare for Merced

Sep. 23, 2013 Football

QUINCY – Last year at this point in the season, Dexter Scott wasn't even on the Feather River football roster, and Ryan Hoyos was a defensive back converting over to the offensive side of the ball just 3 days prior to the Merced game, both hoping to right the ship as the Golden Eagle quarterback.  In short, the Golden Eagles' quarterback situation was a shamble as their starter broke his hand, and his backup was ruled ineligible.  After throwing 6 interceptions, compiling 574 total yards of offense and only scoring 26 points the Golden Eagles are looking to rebound. 

Fast forwarding 365 days and some things are still the same.  The Golden Eagles are coming off a win at Delta in which their back up QB Timothy Herman navigated them to an impressive 29-20 victory over the Delta Mustangs and they're hoping for the return of starting QB Ja'Quay Garmon, who two weeks ago hurt his shoulder in a record setting day, throwing for 402 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Garmon sat out last weeks game for precautionary reasons.   The Golden Eagles offense is paced by Lavon Pearson (28  REC/G, 422 Y/G, 3 TD), Miguel Cerriteno  (17  REC/G, 199 Y/G, 1 TD) and their rushing leader Farrell Victor  (70  RUSH, 282 Y/G, 4 TD).  The Golden Eagles offense has flourished this year avergaing 354 yards a game while averaging nearly 29 ppg.

The Golden Eagles defense appears to have hit its stride allowing just 185 total yards from scrimmage last week against Delta.  Paced by defensive leader Kyle Newsom, (12.6 TKL/G, 3 SK, 6 TFL), Will Johnson (7.7 TKL/G, 1 SK, 4 TFL) and  Wes Christensen (7.3 TKL/G, 1 TFL, 1 FR) look to attack a Merced offense who through 3 games this season already has 10 turnovers.  The Golden Eagles defense has been adept at creating turnovers thus far, with 8 takeaways through 3 games, which included 4 fumble recoveries last week.

Game time is 1PM on Saturday.

Newspaper Article - Sierra College Game

Sorry...forgot to include the link to a newspaper article about the Sierra College game...

Golden Eagles Let One Slip Away

Tough Loss!

Well - when you are up 31-13 at half-time, and then give up 30 points in the 4th quarter, the ending just isn't going to be good.  The Golden Eagles go down 43-46 in their second contest of the season.

Thankfully, Wes had another great game adding 9 additional tackles (three members of the defense had 9 each to lead the team) for a total of 15 this season.

Not much more to say as I sit in Chicago O'Hare waiting for a flight to Reno - other than I am looking forward to tomorrow's game against Delta College.  

Thought you might enjoy some action photos from last game...

Wes...right were he likes to be...right in the middle of things!

Good luck tomorrow in Stockton...lets put up a 'W' 

Sierra College - here we come...

Sorry about the delay in this week's post...

Last weeks game against Butte College was a difficult one...on several levels.  It was nice that at least we could follow the 'play-by-play' as delivered by a local newspaper sports reporter from Butte - unfortunately it was a little less than play-to-play, and it was all text on the Internet.  We were pleased to see both Wes and Nate mentioned as they had some great tackles but, as expected, it was pretty one-sided coverage.

It was a tough game for the Golden Eagles...with only 163 total offensive yards against Butte's 532 total offensive yards, it kind of tells the story.  The Golden Eagles just couldn't shut down the run and ended up losing their season opener 14-45.

Wes played Safety most of the first half until coach made defensive adjustments at half-time to try and contain the run.  Wes saw action in the second half on special teams.

Wes ended up with six tackles which is pretty good considering he played safety and was 15+ yards back on every play - and Butte passed it very rarely.  Nate had a good showing as well as a linebacker...7 tackles for him.

Tomorrow's game against Sierra looks to be a closer game.  The Golden Eagle's won the game last year and the Wolverine's are much more of a passing team which means we hope to hear Wesley's name a few more times!  The Wolverines lost last weeks game in OT 37-31 to Sacramento City College so I'm sure they will come ready to play.

The kickoff is at 1:00pm PST at Sierra College in Sacramento.  I have spent significant time trying to find a radio station that will be broadcasting the game, unfortunately, I can't find anything.  Earlier in the week, the FRC website noted that the game would be broadcast on radio and video via the internet...however, those links have disappeared so it would appear that we will have to see how things go after the fact...

I will be flying into Reno next Friday and will be attending the game next Saturday in Stockton, CA...if you would like mini-updates (I'm going to assume we won't have much radio coverage) via twitter or comment here on the blog - just let me know and I'll set something up.  If I don't hear from anyone, I'll take pictures and have comments for that game and then next two (as I get to be at all three!!!).

Good luck Wes - we look forward to hearing all about your game at Sierra College...

Go Golden Eagles!!

Well - 13 hours and counting before the big game.  The Feather River Golden Eagles play their opener tomorrow at home against the #1 Northern California rated and #2 State rated Butte College Roadrunners.  It is a grudge match of sorts...last year when the Golden Eagles played Butte they walked off the field with their 7th loss of the 2012 season which came down to the final play of the game - a touchdown catch that was ruled out of bounds.

This is the first official game that Wes has played in since High School - and that was a few years ago!  Last year's season ending knee injury at Snow College came just weeks before the season and resulted in a Red Shirt season and ultimately - a great opportunity to play for Coach Johnson and the Golden Eagles of Feather River in Quincy, California.

Things have been going well in Quincy.  The family helped Wes and Kelsy move to Quincy in early August, along with long time friends Nate and Hailey Stroshine.

Wes & Kelsy at the new apartment in Quincy, CA

We had a couple days to explore Quincy with them before we headed back to Utah.  We enjoyed taking a quite tour around campus and seeing the football field...what a beautiful setting to play some football!!

Feather River Golden Eagles Football Field

Practices started the next week and it didn't take long before friendships were being formed and great pictures started to appear...still early enough in the season that the name was not quite right...but WEST is pretty close!!  This is a picture with three teammates after a scrimmage game.

Wes(t) is on the left!

Wes was excited to learn that he had been assigned the jersey he requested...his number is #21...

Okay...here is a few more pieces of information...

With no local radio broadcast of Golden Eagle football, you can still get live coverage of the Feather River - Butte game from the Chico Enterprise-Record.  Just go to chicoer.com/buttefootball for streaming play-by-play, commentary and analysis, plus a live visual gamecast with up-to-date stats.  We can only hope that the broadcasters will have a disappointing game to broadcast (as this is the home of the roadrunners)!  I can guarantee that the Christensen family in Saudi Arabia will be up early Sunday morning our time listening for #21!!

A link to the latest article regarding Saturday's upcoming game...

Golden Eagles Prepare for long awaited Butte rematch

A link to Wes Christensen's roster page...

Wes Christensen Roster

Next post coming soon...thanks for following us!

As an aside...Dad is very excited that he will be able to attend three games this season in California - he will be Stockton, CA for the game on September 21st, and in Quincy for the games on September 28th and October 5th.