by Larry Ham

There’s a word that describes what will be needed from the fans at Reedley College football games this season, and that word is “patience.”

The Tigers began the 2016 season at Reedley High School Stadium Saturday night with a 21-14 loss to Los Medanos College. The Tigers generated only 211 yards of offense in the game, and 186 of those yards were through the air. The rushing game was almost non-existent.

There were other problems as well. Special teams execution was bad. Bad snaps, bad punts, and apparently no field goal unit, as the Tigers did not attempt a field goal in the game.

Starting quarterback Jake Walker, from Tennessee, engineered an opening drive that resulted in a two-yard quarterback sneak for the season’s first touchdown, but after the initial drive, the Tigers were unable to get anything going offensively until the fourth quarter, when quarterback Evan Geiger (Clovis High) threw a 59 yard touchdown pass to wide-out James Jackson. The Tigers had a couple of chances to tie the score late in the game, but time ran out.

So, back to the word patience. This was the first game of Head Coach Eric Marty’s tenure, and it’s going to be a process that will require some time. Coach Marty was hired barely three months ago, and has scrambled to put together a team. There are several new assistant coaches as well, and of course, as is the case in JC football everywhere, almost the entire squad is made up of freshmen. There are only eleven sophomores on the team. It’s going to take some time. There are going to be some rough stretches. But coach Marty came here with an excellent reputation as one of the brightest young football coaches in the nation, so good results are only a matter of time.

The next Tiger game is a doozy of a trip to Ukiah this Saturday to face Mendocino College. Then the team returns home for a September 17 game against College of the Redwoods at one pm. Come out and support the team! And remember…. good things come to those who wait, and good things are on the horizon for the Reedley College Tigers.

Check out KRL’s profile on Eric Marty.

Check back every Monday evening during football season (except for next Monday as we will be skipping the Ukiah game) for the latest game recap! And you can check out the webcasts here: www.meridix.com/everywhere.php?liveid=ReedleyCollege

Larry Ham is an ongoing contributor to our
Area Arts & Entertainment section where he covers local sports–something he has a great deal of experience in having covered many an area school game through the years for KRDU radio in Dinuba.