The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: cccaa

  • Dream Season for Corsairs Continues

    Dream Season for Corsairs Continues

    College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team charges into the playoffs

    With a 75-56 win over Sacramento City College Feb. 27, the College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team advanced to the second round of the California Community College Athletic Association state playoffs. The win put the Corsairs at 22-5 on the season, a complete turnaround from last year’s 0-26 record.

    First-year Head Coach Ryan Bisio set a plan into motion to turn the program around far before he got the job with the Corsairs. The plan was simple: build a team with high-quality local talent to showcase to the community. The plan worked immediately.

    The Corsairs are all graduates from local high schools like Fortuna, Arcata and McKinleyville, with the team composed of all freshman except for two sophomores.

    “I’ve known these kids for years,” Bisio said. “Last year I didn’t coach, so I got to watch all of them in high school and was able to build personal relationships with them. The unity was powerful and it made entrusting this young team easy.”

    This local talent dominated the Golden Valley Conference as the Corsairs, led by Arcata alumnus and conference MVP Thomas Nelson, were crowned champions.

    “Whenever we needed a bucket throughout the year we would go to Thomas,” Bisio said. “He scores in spurts from all three levels. The way he scores devastates our opponents and our team feeds off of him.”

    Nelson, who is in his sophomore year, has been one of the best players in the CCCAA this year, as he was named first-team All-State as well. He averaged 20 points and eight rebounds per game this year, and he scored over 25 in eight games.

    “I wanted to win conference just like in high school, and I knew I could have success. But I didn’t know I would be All-State in the process. I didn’t even know they had All-State teams in junior college until I made the first team.”

    Thomas Nelson

    “The coaching staff has your back in every situation and I have great teammates,” Nelson said. “It’s day and night from last year. We communicate and connect at a very high level and we work very well together.”

    The Arcata High School graduate had high season goals this year, and winning a conference championship was one of them.

    “I wanted to win conference just like in high school, and I knew I could have success,” Nelson said. “But I didn’t know I would be All-State in the process. I didn’t even know they had All-State teams in junior college until I made the first team.”

    With Nelson leading the way, the Corsairs had a multitude of successes this year. Four other players were honored, with Drew Gillette, Zac Claus and Donald Willis making first-team honors and Bradley Willis earning an honorable mention.

    Gillette chipped in 17 points while shooting 41% from the arc. Freshman marksman Isaac Puzz added 9 points while shooting a team high 44% from the three.

    While Puzz and Gillette were lighting it up from behind the arc, Claus took the role of primary ball handler with an average of 10 points, six assists and five rebounds per game.

    The Willis twins were the all-around guys. They combined for 22 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists per game while leading the Corsairs defensively in steals and charges taken.

    Coach Bisio’s plan has come into fruition as CR is currently ranked 16 in the state and has advanced in the CCCAA Northern California state playoffs. With playoffs intensifying the competition, Bisio knows his team must play their best game now.

    “We need to tighten up on defense,” Bisio said. “We’re going to see some good teams in the playoffs so we need to have a high sense of urgency. We’ve been playing good so we have to do what we’ve been doing—just can’t get complacent.”

    The Corsairs defeated Sacramento City in the first round of the playoffs, but the road only gets rougher. College of the Redwoods will be traveling to play against the nation’s number one ranked team, San Francisco City College. Dubbed huge underdogs, the Corsairs have a huge challenge at hand, but with the success they’ve had this year, nothing looks impossible.

    You can livestream the game through the CR men’s basketball Facebook page or the CCCAA Network on YouTube. The game will start at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 7.

  • Jacks Win Streak Snapped by Coyotes

    Jacks Win Streak Snapped by Coyotes

    By | Andre Hascall

    Back to back doubleheaders against Cal State San Bernardino snaps Humboldt Softball’s seven game winning streak. The team had to play in high temperatures in San Bernardino, a harsh difference from Arcata weather. Humboldt Softball is ranked at the top of the CCAA conference. Out of four games this weekend, Humboldt took home one victory. The Lumberjacks are now 14-4 in conference play.

    Senior pitcher Madison Williams, who is still currently leading the conference in batters struck out, added 12 strikeouts to her resume this past week. She now leads the CCAA in strikeouts with 100 in total, 27 more than the second highest.

    “We can be beat by anyone. For me it’s all about improvement, when you go 11-0… you feel like no one can beat you,” Williams said.

    The Jacks had been successful through their first 11 games of the season making them top ranked in the conference at the time.

    With the losses aside, Humboldt ended Sunday on a high note earning their only win of the weekend.

    Second baseman, Sydney Roberts, played a big role in the team’s win this weekend both at bat and on the field.

    “Every ball that came to me just got stopped,” Roberts said. “I feel like I did well. A hit went between Bre [Bejaran] and I, and I dove on it, got up on my knees and threw it to first.”

    Roberts was not the only player who played well in the game. As catcher, Breonna Bejaran hit two home runs in the last game of road trip. Those two home runs tied Bejaran for first in home runs in the CCAA  with nine on the season. She is also first in slugging percentage with .800, slugging percentage being the amount of bases gained by one person divided by the number of times that person is at bat.

    “I was just looking for a base run and it came to me,” Bejaran said.

    Before Bejaran’s second home run, there was a controversy with an interference call that the umpire overturned.

    “I knew the pitcher was coming for me and I had to swing,” Bejaran said.

    Photo by | Andre Hascall

    Even with the tough weekend considered, the Jacks must look forward as the championship tournament is no longer far off in the distance.

    Yesterday at the weekly sports conference at HSU the team’s head coach, Shelli Sarchett, spoke on her team’s recent shortcoming against CSU San Bernardino.

    “Half this team knows what it takes the get there, and we are not doing that. We are going to get refreshed and focused, obviously our focus is the national championship, but how are we going to get there, ride on what we’ve always done or strive to get better,” Sarchett said.