CSM Bulldogs rally past Fresno, improve to 5-0

“He had a great game,” CSM head coach Tim Tulloch said. “He ran hard. ... We just leaned on him. He’s a guy that, he runs extremely physical. He’s never ever taken down by the first tack ... and he consistently breaks three, four, five tackles. ... He just set a tone for our offense and our team that we were going to out-physical you.”

With the win, the Bulldogs finish their non-conference slate as one of two perfect Bay 6 teams. The other? None other than CSM’s Week 6 opponent Diablo Valley College in the Saturday, Oct. 11 conference opener.

“It’s great,” Tulloch said. “They’re playing really good football. Everyone goes into conference 0-0, and the conference champiion gets an automatic bid into the playoffs. So, it’s going to be a heck of a game right out of the gates here ... with an excellent opponent. And our guys are going to be fired up.”

CSM will be riding the hot hand of DeMoss. The 5-10, 190-pound sophomore out of De Anza HS-Richmond used one of his shortest runs of the evening, a 1-yard carry less than four minutes into the second half, to give the Bulldogs a 10-7 lead.

Fresno took the second-half kickoff, but freshman cornerback Phoenix Rose picked off a Ya’j Vance pass deep in Rams territory, his second interception of the year, and returned it to the 14. DeMoss proceeded to carry four straight times for 5, 4 and 4 yards capped by a 1-yard score.

Rose’s INT was one of six Fresno turnovers on the evening.

“It was great,” Tulloch said. “It really was all night. ... Our defense, just every time we needed a play, someone either picked a ball off or forced a fumble. ... Any time they started driving, someone would step up and stop them.”

After a Fresno three-and-out, DeMoss and the ’Dogs went right back on the attack. DeMoss moved it across midfield with carries of 5 and 9 yards, and the hometown kid, freshman running back Dominick Gonzalez (Roosevelt-Fresno) chewed up 38 yards to move it to the 2, setting up a 19-yard Dieter Kelly field goal.

CSM put the Rams’ defense right back on the field when sophomore defensive back Miles Tucker (Amador Valley-Pleasanton) recovered a fumble at Fresno’s 32. After runs of 9 and 12 yards by DeMoss moved the chains, freshman quarterback Johnny Koett cashed in on third-and-2 from the 3 with a short touchdown pass to sophomore Kenyon Shabazz (Grant-Sacramento) to push the Bulldogs’ lead to 20-7.

Koett was 11-of-20 passing for 105 yards and one touchdown. But after Fresno closed it to a one-score game 20-14 on Jacob Couch’s 3-yard TD catch from Christian English with 11:13 to play, Koett misfired for his third interception of the game. The Rams took over at midfield and moved the sticks once, but the turnover bug bit right back when Fresno fumbled and sophomore cornerback Kyle Hall recovered for the Bulldogs.

Two minutes later, Kelly booted his third field goal of the night, a 20-yard boot, to put the win on ice. CSM closed it out when Fresno threw its third interception, when sophomore RJ Whitten (Folsom) came up with his team-leading third pick of the year with 47 seconds to go.

Next up, CSM has a bye before opening Bay 6 Conference play. The Bulldogs will welcome DVC in a battle of unbeatens, Saturday, Oct. 11. Kickoff at College Heights Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.