JC football: Fresno City and Reedley meet in annual Battle for the Pump

The Fresno City College football team is in unfamiliar territory.

After winning the first two games of the season, the Rams dropped their past two games and hope to avoid a third straight loss when they face Reedley College at 6 p.m. Saturday in the annual Battle for the Pump game at Reedley High.

Fresno City hasn’t lost three straight since the 2008 season – a streak that current Rams quarterback Christian Rossi noted is “interesting and a long time.”

Rams coach Tony Caviglia said his team needs to “get back on track” after falling to Butte 31-28 last week.

“We made some uncharacteristic mistakes against Butte,” he said. “We want to correct those errors and come out and play a complete game in all three facets of the game: offense, defense and kicking game.”

Fresno City (2-2) fell five spots to No. 10 in the NorCal National Division rankings. Reedley (3-1) comes into the game No. 3 in the NorCal American Division after last week’s 40-2 victory against Gavilan.

The last meeting between Fresno City and Reedley generated some high-octane offense from both teams, with the Rams pulling out a 49-44 victory at Ratcliffe Stadium. The Rams and Tigers combined for 851 total yards.

That’s something Fresno City hopes to avoid Saturday after its defense allowed 444 total yards to the Roadrunners last week.

Linebacker Chris Woolbright said the Rams can work on communication.

“Some people lead by actions, some lead by words. I try to lead by actions sometimes,” Woolbright said. “Then again you have to remind them, ‘Hey, it’s third-and-3 – step up. If it’s third-and-19, step back a little.’ Just have to keep them on point.”

Rossi has done his part, completing 99 of 150 for 1,263 yards and 14 touchdowns against three interceptions. Kailon Carter and Rashaan Miller have four touchdowns apiece.

Rossi is confident the defense will get better before Valley Conference play begins in two weeks.

“They’ve been showing it in practice,” he said. “Every week they’re getting better. … We’re getting better as a whole. I think they’ll step up on Saturday.”

Limiting big plays has been a focus for the Rams after they allowed seven plays that went for 20-plus yards against Butte.

“Defensively we just have to do our assignments. Big plays are killing us. Nothing else,” Woolbright said.

All the Rams want to do is get a win heading into the bye week before starting Valley Conference play, beginning Oct. 17 against Laney.

“I don’t really have any motivation other than just making sure we play the game that we’re coached to play,” Caviglia said. “Our last two games we should’ve – could’ve – won, but there’s nothing we can do about that now. All we have to do is keep getting better and getting ready to play our next opponent, which happens to be Reedley College.”

Reedley - At quarterback for the Tigers is Austin Bray, the younger brother of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Tyler Bray. Bray is off to a good start, having thrown for 1,052 yards and 12 touchdowns against seven interceptions. He also has a rushing touchdown. Bray was on the 2013 Fresno City roster but didn’t record a statistic, then took a year off from football last year. As a senior at Kingsburg High in fall 2011, Bray helped lead the Vikings to the Central Section Division III championship with a 41-34 victory over Ridgeview.

This story was originally published October 2, 2015 at 10:01 PM with the headline "JC football: Fresno City and Reedley meet in annual Battle for the Pump."