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BUTTE VALLEY The offensive continuity the Butte College football team had been seeking through the nonconference portion of its schedule presented itself heartily on Saturday in the Roadrunners' 42-21 victory over Shasta.
The main reason why: Almost nobody is as good at just handing the ball off and moving the chains.
PHOTO GALLERY of the game
Butte again surpassed the 400-yard rushing mark, totaling 422 on the ground led by Travis Davidson's 220, and the Roadrunners stayed unbeaten heading into NorCal Conference play by defeating the Knights at Cowan Stadium.
Davidson got 28 carries to get his yardage, but there was little reason to believe any of the Roadrunners' other backs couldn't have done the same running through the apertures Butte's offensive line flashed open consistently all afternoon. Marcus Preciado added 77 yards on eight carries and Tromaine Dennis had 49 bullying yards on nine touches as the Roadrunners (5-0) loudly justified their new top-10 national ranking in the JCGridiron.com poll and place at No. 4 in the CCCFCA state rankings.
Part of Butte's running game, the second-best JC ground attack in the state, often comes from the blocking of fullback Harley Kreisman, but on Saturday he made his presence known in other ways.
Easily identified by the wild mane of hair draped over his No. 27 uniform in the Roadrunner backfield, Kreisman turned in one of the game's momentum-turning moments in the third quarter, when he latched on to a Jon Hays play-action pass on fourth-and-2 near midfield, scrambled up the right sideline and rumbled into the end zone. That score made it 35-14 but worked wonders to tide any upset thoughts 0-5 Shasta might have had after cutting it to 28-14 four minutes earlier.
"We have a lot of backs that can do a lot of things. It's all about what we go through in practice, just working on getting those guys loose," Kreisman said. "That play, I just leaked out slow to the flat and got the blocks just like we practice. Once you get to game time, it's pretty easy."
Davidson scored twice, on runs of 25 and 13 yards, and Dennis took a Hays first-quarter screen pass 18 yards for a touchdown. A side effect of Butte's rushing superiority was evident in the passing game, as well: Hays often had single coverage with a loaded defensive box, and the result was a 13-for-25, 226-yard day that included three touchdown throws and completions to seven different receivers.
After Davidson gashed the Knights' defense for consecutive runs of 10, 9 and 20 yards to start the third quarter, Hays audibled out of a handoff when he saw Shasta's blatantly run-focused defensive setup and connected with Rashad Ross on a 42-yard post for a touchdown.
"He saw the free safety at seven, eight yards," Butte coach Jeff Jordan said. "When you control the line of scrimmage that well, the free safety has to get involved, and that's something that's built into our offense. Jon sees that safety and we know we can get Rashad behind him and Jon was able to do it."
Ross finished with four catches for 70 yards, but the shifty receiver was second fiddle to the fullback Kreisman in the receiving category by four yards. Preciado punched in a 7-yard touchdown late to provide the final score as Butte got its starters some rest later in the second half.
"We just want to continue to worry about us and play hard," Jordan said. "Shasta played us extremely tough, but we know the talent level we'll see in the next five weeks is going to be much better than what we've seen to this point. It's big boy football time now."
On the surface, Butte looks to be well-equipped for the moment if it can continue its success on the ground. Even Hays was able to turn five scrambles into 60 yards, while wide receivers accounted for 26 out of direct-snap formations. The Roadrunners boasted an eight-minute advantage in time of possession as well.
"We're trying to grind teams down and run that clock out," Dennis said. "There's clock left? We'll run it out and take that victory."
