The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

CSM quarterback Justin Burgess, shown pitching the ball to D.J. Peluso, struggled in the Bulldogs’ 24-14 loss to American River.Photo by Patrick Nguyen

It was a quiet ride back from Sacramento for the College of San Mateo football team.

With the San Francisco Giants monopolizing most of the Bay Area sports’ landscape Saturday evening, CSM head coach Bret Pollack said he wasn’t interested in anything having to do with baseball. The Giants’ epic 18-inning win in Game 2 of the National League Division Series ran concurrently with the Bulldogs’ 24-14 loss at American River.

As much as the record length of the baseball playoff game was ultimately celebrated by local fans, CSM will have much longer to sit on its first loss of the year with a bye-week this weekend before the start of Big 6 Conference play Oct. 18 against Santa Rosa Junior College.

It was a tough loss to swallow in that it caused CSM to fall from No. 1 to No. 4 in the California Community College Athletic Association rankings this week. For Pollack though, who doesn’t put much stock in rankings, it was the way the Bulldogs lost which made for, as he described it, the long ride home.

“[American River] came out ready to play,” Pollack said of Saturday’s game. “They came out swinging. We came out looking.”

From the outset, American River put a bruising on the Bulldogs, who were leveled with a bone-crushing hit just seconds after receiving the opening kickoff. It was a theme throughout much of the first half, as American River quarterback Tanner Trosin led a spirited attack which saw the Beavers outgain the Bulldogs 381-281 in total yards while netting over six minutes more of time-of-possession.

In the first four weeks of the season, CSM could do no wrong at the quarterback position. Jeremy Cannon was impressive in the Bulldogs’ first two wins. Before being injured in the first quarter of a Week 3 matchup at Butte, the freshman completed 20-of-39 passes for 384 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.

Backup Justin Burgess inherited the job against Butte and picked up right where his freshman counterpart left off. He led CSM to a 51-6 win at Butte with 11-of-19 completions for 265 yards and two touchdowns. The following week, he completed 15-of-21 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns.

The most impressive quarterback stat through CSM’s first four games was neither helmsmen had thrown an interception. But the turnover bug struck big-time against American River. The Bulldogs turned over the ball five times, including two interceptions thrown by Burgess. The 6-3 freshman just couldn’t get it going, completing just six passes for 129 yards.

“The end result is he didn’t play well,” Pollack said. “A lot of guys didn’t. We win collectively and we lose collectively.”

Cannon looked to be part of that collective Saturday, as he was suited up and wearing a knee brace on his left leg. Cannon’s presence may have been more cosmetic than anything, as CSM seemed intent to stick with Burgess despite an ineffective attack. The Bulldogs were also without top running back Michael Latu for the second consecutive week.

Pollack, however, said Cannon was available against American River if an injury befell Burgess.

“It was Justin’s thing to do unless he got injured,” Pollack said. “Then if he got injured, Jeremy was going to go in.”

Pollack said Cannon and Latu are both probable for Week 5. He said he will make a decision as to all his starters 48 hours before kickoff, as per CSM’s standard operating procedure.

“I do know they should be back for Santa Rosa,” Pollack said.

In the meantime, the Bulldogs are scheduled to receive their biggest stretch of downtime throughout the season. The team won’t suit up Thursday-with just a weight-room session schedule-then get three days off before resuming practice the following Monday, Oct. 13.

With conference records being the determining factor in CCCAA standings, every team essentially gets to hit the reset button heading into conference play. The Big 6 is a new conference, but most of the teams are the same ones which composed last year’s Northern California North Conference. Only Diablo Valley College is new to the mix, replacing Butte, which is the lone team to remain in the new Nor Cal Conference

As for sizing up the talent in the Big 6, Pollack-who does not care for prognosticating-had a simple summation.

“We’ll see,” he said.