Jordan Whittley

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!

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

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

The Laney College Eagles continued on their offensive roll, pummeling De Anza College 60-7 on Sept. 22 in Oakland

The Laney College Eagles continued on their offensive roll, pummeling De Anza College 60-7 on Sept. 22 in Oakland.

It was the fourth time in Eagles’ football history that the team has scored 60 or more points in a game.

The victory moved Laney up five spots to ninth in the JC Athletic Bureau of California Community College poll.

Ahmari Davis (16, carries, 77 yards) scored three touchdowns and Marcel Dancy (10 carries, 131 yards) scored twice as Laney piled up 300 yards on the ground. The Eagles gained 481 yards of total offense.

Laney took the lead on its opening drive, driving 64 yards in 10 plays and finished when Noah Suszckiewicz threw a 12-yard scoring pass to Keith Tracy with 11:53 left.

Dancy caped off the Eagles’ second series when he bolted 65 yards for a score to make it 12-0.

Laney scored three times in the second quarter to put the game away. Quarterback Andrew Ve’e ran 4 yards for one score, Suszckiewcz threw 27 yards to Devond Blair Jr., for another, and Dancy ran 4 yards to cap off the 39-7 halftime lead.

The Eagles scored three more times in the second half, with Davis scoring on runs of 9 and 11 yards and Kendall Prater going 1 yard for the final touchdown.

Defensively, Laney held De Anza to 186 yards and just 22 yards rushing. The Eagles had four sacks, resulting in 18 yards in losses. Leo Rodriguez was credited with 1.5 sacks; Vili Paea one; Cameron Nathan one; and Jordan Whittley had a half.

Zach Zimmerman recovered fumble and Erin Austin blocked a punt.

Laney’s next game is at home against Contra Costa College on Friday, Sept. 29. The Eagles defeated the Comets 21-20 in 2016 and are 5-0 against the San Pablo team.

Game time is 7 p.m.

NOTES: Laney’s other 60+ point games:

Nov. 11, 1965—Laney 60, Gavilan College 0

Oct. 24, 2008—Laney 66, Los Medanos College 17

Nov. 15, 2013—Laney 68, Sacramento City College 0

By Scott A. Strain

Laney College Sports Information

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