Twelve Former OUSD Students are on Laney College Football Team that Won California Junior College Championship on Saturday

For the first time in the history of Laney College, the school’s football team won the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Championship. The underdog Eagles beat the Pirates from Ventura College from Southern California at Sacramento City College on Saturday, December 8. Among the players are twelve former Oakland Unified School District students, including several who played major roles in the win.

Jadan Starks, who graduated from Castlemont High in 2017, played most of the game at left offensive guard where the team ran 70% of their plays. “Jadan is a beast, he’s physically dominant and imposes his will on people,” said Laney Head Coach John Beam. “And he wears his purple shirt (under his jersey) during games for his Castlemont roots.”

Siliveinusi Tomasi, who graduated from Fremont High in 2017, anchored the defense playing nose guard most of the game. Nu’u Taugavau who went to Fremont for two years before moving to Hayward played on the offensive line for about half the game. And receiver Angelo Garrett, who graduated from McClymonds in 2017, caught two touchdown passes. “Angelo is used to playing in big games, after having won the State Championship at McClymonds (in 2016). So, he wasn’t intimidated by the moment at all.”

The game was a close one as the Ventura College Pirates took it down to the final play. But when the Laney defense sealed the 40-35 win, the entire team ran onto the field in an eruption of joy, laughter, even tears.

“Doing it in high school and then going to the next level and making it happen again, it’s nothing but a blessing, first of all,” said McClymonds’ Angelo Garrett. “It’s history. History in the books all over again. Just with my name on it.”
Castlemont’s Jadan Starks said, “We got here at the beginning of this year and said we were going to take it the whole way. We learned our lessons during the process, but no matter what happened, all the injuries… that’s the resilience of this team. We never gave up. No matter what the score is, whether we are up or down, we are not going to give up. We’re going to give anybody everything we got. And I haven’t seen anybody who can take everything we got. You see the result of that today.”

One former OUSD player who didn’t get to take the field was defensive end Ramone Sanders, who graduated from McClymonds in 2018. A few weeks ago, he broke his left leg during practice, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Doctors discovered bone cancer in the leg. He’s now undergoing treatment to battle the disease. But he was on the sidelines inspiring his teammates to bring home the win.

Coach Beam, whose daughter, Sonjha Beam Phillips is the Commissioner of the Oakland Athletic League (OAL) said, “Oakland kids bring a grittiness to the team, a hunger, a chip on their shoulder. They’re used to playing in rough and tumble games. They’re a physical group. They’re fast and they don’t get intimidated.”

On what the win means for Oakland, Starks said, “Oh, it’s a great thing. It’s showing people outside of Oakland that Oakland is doing great things.... To come out here and do something like this, it’s so big, it’s beyond words... If you didn’t know about Laney, you know about Laney now.”

Coach Beam says that through oddities in the world of junior college football, technically, this win means that Laney is the National Champion. “It’s a tribute to the resilience and grit of Oakland. The city is a gem, and gets overlooked all the time. We like to say Laney Built, Oakland Proud.”

The former OUSD and OAL players on the 2018 Laney College Football Team are Castlemont’s Jadan Starks (#68) and Jordan Whitley (33), Fremont’s Siliveinusi Tomasi (97), Nu’u Taugavau (66) and O’Dale Hickman (44), Oakland Tech’s Brandon Hill (99), Skyline’s Parnell Walker (20), and McClymonds’ Angelo Garrett (13), Ramone Sanders (55), Jerrell Alberty (36), Day’Marr Johnson (82) and Kaja Zuberi (88).

OUSD congratulates Laney College and all of our former students who are now State and National Junior College Football Champions!

The Road to Sacramento goes through Oakland

The second-seeded Laney College football team advanced to the Northern California Regional championship game by defeating No. 3-seed College of San Mateo 14-0 in a NorCal semifinal game played Nov. 17 at Cabrillo College.

The game, initially to be played at Laney, was moved to Cabrillo due to poor air quality in Oakland.

The championship game is scheduled to be played Saturday, Nov. 24 at Laney. Game time is 6 p.m. The Eagles’ opponent will be No. 4 seed Fresno City College, which upset top-seeded Butte College 29-26 on Nov. 17.

The victor will play the winner of the Riverside College-Ventura College Southern California title game. The California Community Colleges Athletic Association state championship game will be played at Hughes Stadium at Sacramento City College on Dec. 8 at 1 p.m.

This is the first time Laney has advanced to the NorCal championship game. Last year, the Eagles qualified for the NorCal regional, but lost at American River College 41-35 in the semifinals.

The Eagles (9-2) scored two touchdowns in the second quarter and utilized a stingy defensive effort to stifle CSM (8-3).

The teams battled to a 0-0 tie in the first quarter. Laney drove down to the CSM 9 on its opening drive, but a lost fumble on 4th-and-goal negated the drive.

The Eagles got on the scoreboard with an 11-play, 42-yard drive in the second quarter, quarterback Jordon Brookshire (Cardinal Newman High School-Santa Rosa) scoring on a 1-yard plunge with 10:10 left in the period.

The big play on the drive was a 13-yard pass from Brookshire to El-Joshua Allen (Washington HS-Fremont) on 4th-and-2 from the CSM 34.

Laney’s next chance came after linebacker Josh Bolding (Alameda HS) intercepted a pass and returned it five yards to the Bulldogs’ 30.

It took the Eagles four plays to go 30 yards. Brookshire threw a 13-yard scoring pass to Angelo Garrett (McClymonds HS), who made a leaping catch in the end zone with 1:13 remaining in the half. Isaak Parada (Arroyo HS) kicked the PAT for 14-0.

Neither team did much offensively in the second half. The Laney defense made the Bulldogs’ passing game virtually disappear as their two quarterbacks completed just five of 24 passes for 65 yards and were sacked six times.

CSM had 130 yards of total offense; the Eagles finished with 245 yards.

Bolding had a monster game for Laney on defense with 11 solo tackles (12 overall) and three sacks. He also had five tackles-for-loss (TFL) for 79 yards and had one interception.

Linebacker Armani Turner-Jenkins (Berkeley HS) had seven solo tackles (eight overall) and defensive lineman Ramone Sanders (McClymonds HS) had two sacks and two TFL. Defensive lineman Timmy Dorsey (McClymonds HS) had the other sack.

Ticket prices for the Fresno City College-Laney College game will $12 for general admission and $8 for students, staff, faculty with ID, children under 12 and seniors.

NOTES—The victory was Laney’s first over College of San Mateo since 2001…the Eagles defeated Fresno City College 30-23 in 2017…Laney’s last shutout was on Nov. 15, 2013, when it beat Sacramento City College 68-0…FCC holds a 12-7 advantage in games played vs. Laney…The Eagles lost to CSM 27-18 on Oct. 19.

This is perhaps the biggest game Laney has played on its home field. In 1966, the Eagles defeated City College of San Francisco 35-13 in the Prune Bowl at San Jose State before an estimated 12,000 fans. CCSF was led by NFL Hall of Fame running back O.J. Simpson.

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By Scott A. Strain, Laney College Sports Information

Laney College Wins at Santa Rosa Junior College

Quarterback Jordon Brookshire threw for 312 yards and accounted for five touchdowns as the Laney Eagles football team scored 35 points in the second half to come from behind and defeat Santa Rosa Junior College 42-35 at Santa Rosa High School on Oct. 27.

The Eagles (6-2, 2-1 in the National Bay 6 Conference) scored five touchdowns in the second half to erase a 17-7 halftime deficit against the Bears Cubs (5-3, 1-2).

Laney remains tied with College of San Mateo and City College of San Francisco for the conference lead and travels to Pleasant Hill on Friday, Nov. 2, to play Diablo Valley College in a 7 p.m. game.

Laney’s only score in the first half came on Brookshire’s 2-yard run with 8:54 left in the first quarter. It was a homecoming of sorts for the Laney QB; Brookshire graduated from Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa and played for SRJC for half a season.

The Eagles’ first touchdown in the third quarter came with 12:34 left when Brookshire threw a 35-yard scoring pass to Angelo Garrett (McClymonds HS).

Two more scores wiped out the Bear Cubs’ lead in the period. Running back Harold Tidwell (Concord HS) scored on a 28-yard run with 7:23 left and Brookshire made the score 27-24 on an 11-yard run with 23 seconds left in the quarter.

The Eagles added two more scores in the fourth quarter, just enough to withstand a SRJC comeback. Garrett caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Brookshire with 10:08 left in the game and Brookshire scored his third rushing touchdown on a 4-yard run with 8:24 left.

Brookshire had a mammoth game in front of his hometown fans, completing 29 of 38 passes for 312 yards with two touchdown passes and two interceptions. He also ran for 49 yards on 12 carries and scored three touchdowns.

Tidwell rushed for 113 yards on 12 carries and scored once.  Garrett had eight receptions for 145 yards and two touchdowns. Balewa Byrd (John Swett HS) had 10 catches for 99 yards and Jared Smart (Dublin HS) had eight receptions for 50 yards.

Linebacker Cameron Nathan (Antioch HS) had six tackles (four solo) and 1.5 sacks. Imani Moore (4-1, Dublin HS), Jahari Kay (3-2, San Leandro HS), Jordan Whittley (2-3, Castlemont HS) and Josh Bolding (2-3, Alameda HS) were credited with five tackles apiece.

Moore and Nahshon Wright (James Logan HS) had interceptions and Armani Turner-Jenkins (Berkeley HS) had a sack.

Placekicker Isaak Prada (Arroyo HS) was a perfect 6-for-6 on PAT attempts.

By Scott A. Strain, Laney College Sports Information

The Laney College football team is now the top-ranked team in Northern California

The Laney College football team is now the top-ranked team in Northern California.

The Eagles moved up to No. 3 in the JC Athletic Bureau/California Community College football coaches poll after overwhelming mistake-prone West Hills College 77-12 on Sept. 21 in Oakland to improve their record to 4-0.

Laney now faces its toughest test of the nonconference portion of the season when it plays host to Butte College (3-1) of Oroville on Friday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. The Roadrunners are coming off a big 42-21 home victory over City College of San Francisco on Sept. 22.

The Eagles blocked two punts and returned an interception for a touchdown as they scored the most points in the 53-year history of football program.

Quarterback Jordon Brookshire (Cardinal-Newman High School-Santa Rosa) completed 11 of 16 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns, both to Jared Smart () for 1 and 30 yards respectively.

Running back John McDonald (Lincoln HS-Stockton) rushed for 125 yards and scored two touchdowns on runs of 8 and 11 yards.

The Eagles led 42-6 at the half and 70-6 at the end of three quarters. Running back Jerrell Alberty (McClymonds HS) rushed for 58 yards on five carries and scored on runs of 15 and 26 yards.

Quarterback Junior Diala (American HS) threw a 38-yard scoring pass to Angelo Garrett (MClymonds HS) and also scored on a 1-yard run.

The Lane defense held the Falcons to 171 yards of total offense and reached the end zone twice. Nahshon Wright (James Logan HS) scored on a 20-yard interception return and, after Damon Lynch (Manteca HS) blocked a punt, Jaelyn Thomas (Freedom HS) fell on the ball in the West Hills end zone for a touchdown.

Ryan Mackey (Rio Vista HS) scored the Eagles’ last touchdown on an 8-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Defensively, linebacker Armani Turner-Jenkins (Berkeley HS) had seven solo tackles—eight overall—and Laney defenders had six sacks and 12 tackles for losses, spread among 11 players.

By Scott A. Strain, Laney College Sports Information

Laney Defeats Modesto Junior College 31-17 in their Season Opener

John McDonald ran for 121 yards, scored two touchdowns and a ferocious defense recorded 10 sacks as Laney College defeated Modesto Junior College 31-17 in the season opener for both teams on Sept. 1.

McDonald (Lincoln High School-Stockton) scored on runs of 29 and 23 yards for the Eagles (1-0), who open their home season on Friday, Sept. 7, against American River College of Sacramento. Game time is 7 p.m.

Linebacker Armani Turner-Jenkins (Berkeley HS), led a sterling effort with 11 solo tackles, two sacks (for 15 yards) and two tackles for losses (15 yards). Jordan Whittley (Castlemont HS) had 21/2 sacks and two TFL (Laney had 14 TFL overall). Defensive back Imani Moore (Dublin HS) had an interception.

The Eagles took the opening kickoff and drove to the Pirates’ 9-yard line, but the drive stalled. MJC drove 90 yards to take a 7-0 lead, but Laney answered back when quarterback Jordon Brookshire (Cardinal Newman HS-Santa Rosa) threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Angelo Garrett (McClymonds HS) and the Eagles tied the game at 7-7 with 2 minutes, 20 seconds left in the first quarter.

Laney took the lead for good when Brookshire threw 9 yards to El-Joshua Allen (Washington-Fremont) for 14-7 with 2:20 left in the second quarter. Brookshire finished 16-of-28 for 201 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran 13 times for 43 yards.

Whittley sacked Modesto quarterback Jacob Perez for a 6-yard loss on a 4-and-5 play with 41 seconds left in the half. The Eagles managed to a jam in a six-play drive in the waning seconds, culminating with a KC Onwuemeka (Hercules HS) field goal of 43 yards with six seconds left for a 17-7 lead.

The Pirates cut the lead to 17-10 with a field goal in the third quarter, but McDonald his first touchdown on a 29-yard run with 9:15 left in the game to extend Laney’s margin to 24-10.

MJC scored again with 7:11 left, but McDonald answered back again with a 23-yard run with 4:02 remaining for the final score of the game.

By Scott A. Strain

Laney Sports Information