CCSF beats Saddleback for junior college state football title

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In a duel of national junior college football heavyweights, the scale was tipped CCSF’s way Saturday by a 160-pound freshman.

Namane Modise, a fill-in tailback, rushed for 253 yards on a grueling 37 carries to back a potent defense as the Rams throttled Saddleback College 26-14 for their seventh state championship.

Before a crowd of 2,515 at CCSF, the Rams (12-1) won their 10th mythical national title and their first under head coach Jimmy Collins, who took over this year when George Rush retired after 38 years.

“Everybody’s hard work paid off,” Modise said. “The coaches said all week, ‘Be quiet. Don’t say anything. Just execute.’”

The 5-foot-8 whirlwind from Castro Valley High School — his name is pronounced nah-MAH-nee mo-DEE-say’ — was born in Oakland to a South African father, who died when Namane was 5, and a Jamaican mother.

“He had Division II opportunities out of high school,” Collins said, “but he told me he wanted to compete at the highest level. He’s the type of kid you love having around.”

CCSF Rams quarterback Anthony Gordon fumbles the ball in the 1st quarter against the Saddleback College Gauchos in the California Community College state championship game in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015. less CCSF Rams quarterback Anthony Gordon fumbles the ball in the 1st quarter against the Saddleback College Gauchos in the California Community College state championship game in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, ... more Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close CCSF beats Saddleback for junior college state football title 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

Modise started the last three playoff games after 1,000-yard rusher Elijah Dale injured his knee. The game’s MVP was at his best on a twisting 57-yard run in the fourth quarter to set up his second touchdown, a 5-yard run. He eluded several tacklers on his way.

“He’s known for putting people in some binds and making them miss, making them dive at nothing,” quarterback Anthony Gordon said.

Gordon threw 6-yard touchdown passes to tight end Andrew Vollert and wide receiver Easop Winston. The sturdy CCSF defense shut out the Gauchos (10-3) until quarterback Johnny Stanton threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Collins with 5:32 left. Stanton and Collins teamed up on a 3-yard scoring pass in the final two minutes, far too little and too late.

The UNLV-bound Stanton, who started his college career at Nebraska, was Saddleback’s leading rusher this year, but he was held to 42 yards on 18 carries. And 34 of those came on a fourth-quarter run. Thanks to his late flurry, he threw for 303 yards, with Collins catching 11 passes for 159 yards.

“We had the extra week to prepare,” said Rams linebacker Nick Pierotti, who had a sack and a game-high 13 tackles. “No one was coming up on the backers, so me and Juice (linebacker Anthony Giusti, who had nine tackles) had free runs. It was a team defensive effort.”

CCSF played mainly a three-man defensive line for only the second time this year, Collins said. Another new wrinkle was playing man-to-man defense about half the time, he said. “We have team speed that most teams haven’t seen when they get to play us,” he said.

To the surprise of everybody, CCSF led at the half by just 6-0 in what had been expected to be an offensive show featuring some of the best wide receivers in the state. The Rams could have had a bigger lead, but lost two fumbles deep in Saddleback territory, one on the 3-yard line.

In the end, though, they had too much defense and too much Modise.

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald