Roseville slips by Antelope without injured QB

Playing without their starting quarterback Mason Susnara, Roseville High's varsity football team barely got by Antelope in their season opening game on Friday night, winning 21-17. Susnara was hurt in the team's scrimmage the previous week and will be out a few more weeks, leaving the quarterback job in the hands of junior Hunter Felkins. Roseville started out well enough against Antelope, as it led 14-0 after the first quarter, but after that the offense struggled. Antelope, in fact, scored the next 17 points to take a 17-14 lead until Roseville finally scored a touchdown with about seven minutes to play in the game, giving the team a 21-17 lead and that was the game's final score. "It was a grind," Roseville coach Adam Reinking said. "As a two-year starter coming into his third year as a starter, Mason is a big part of the offense and that showed last night." The Tigers got off to a good start in the game. On the team's first play from scrimmage, D'Marcis Gresham took a handoff from Felkins and sprinted 74 yards for a touchdown. After that, Gresham rushed for 43 yards on 11 carries, as he finished the game with 117 yards rushing. Two possessions later, Kenny McClure returned an Antelope punt 65 yards for a touchdown and Roseville led 14-0. From that point forward, Roseville moved the ball fairly well on offense, but couldn't score. Antelope, meanwhile took a 17-14 lead early in the fourth quarter. Roseville finally scored one more time on the next drive following a good kick return by Peanut Hawkins to the Antelope 45-yard line. Cole Takahashi scored on an 11-yard run to give Roseville the lead for good, 21-17. "We only had the ball for 11 plays in the first half," Reinking said. "Our defense was on the field all night long and did a good job. Antelope took the lead and we got a good kick return from Peanut and then we finally sustained a drive. The kids did not quit and did a good job believing and running behind the offensive line. "'Cole Train' as I call him," Reinking said. "He does a good job for us. He's a good, tough kid who offers a different element than D'Marcis – a quicker burst." Roseville got the ball one more time and couldn't do anything with it, but got a great punt from Austin Chang that went down to the two-yard line. JJ Yong picked off a pass on the next play and the Tigers ran the clock out after that. "It was a funky, weird game," Reinking said. "There wasn't a lot of flow to it. Our defense played extremely well. We knew that our defense and special teams would need to step up this week. Losing Mason for a couple weeks is not ideal. I'm proud of the guys. It was a good team win." Reinking said that Felkins did a good job running the offense in Susnara's absence. He said he hopes to have Susnara back by the Sept. 12 game against Woodcreek, if not then he's hoping Susnara will be back the following week against Deer Valley. This week the Tigers will travel to Oakmont to face the Vikings, who lost to Bella Vista last week, 35-14. "This is an old rivalry that goes back to when they're were just two schools in Roseville back in the 1950s through the 1980s," Reinking said.