22-point deficit is too much for Mustangs to overcome in 29-21
loss to San Benito Thursday night
Gilroy – In the end, it was the way it was in the beginning for Gilroy High’s football team.
The Mustangs were brilliant for 1 1/2 quarters Thursday night against San Benito.
But they had dug such a deep hole that there was no escape. So once again, the Prune Bowl trophy resides in Hollister.
Players like Frank Subia and Jeremy Sabla went hard from the get-go. Brandyn Lemmon and some of the others shed tears when the season ended at 9:50pm Thursday night at Garcia-Elder Complex.
It was a season of great promise. Gilroy showed how good it could be in the second half against Palma and Salinas, the first half against Alisal and North Salinas, and the fourth quarter against San Benito. If the Mustangs had been able to sustain the effort for all four quarters against the above-mentioned, they would have come out of those games no worse than 4-1. Instead, they were 2-3.
“In the first half (against San Benito), we played like we didn’t believe we could win,” coach Rich Hammond said. “All 11 guys have to believe. At 22-0, we could have quit and got rolled, especially after that long drive (the ‘Balers made) at the beginning of the second half.”
GHS made it interesting as senior quarterback Marc Vegas began finding Marshad Johnson and Paul Gonzales with increasing frequency. But digging out of a three-touchdown hole against San Benito is too much to ask.
The Mustangs got close, closing the gap to 22-13 with 2:17 left. Hammond surprised some fans by going for a two-point conversion rather than a more certain kick that would have made it a one-score game.
“We wouldn’t have made the playoffs with a tie,” Hammond explained. “They would have kept the trophy with a tie. We were playing for going to the playoffs and bringing home the trophy.”
Even when ‘Balers’ junior quarterback Ronnie Fhurong raced 50 yards on a bootleg 21 seconds later to make the score 29-13, there was still fight left in the Mustangs. A Vegas-to-Johnson 16-yard touchdown play and Vegas conversion run with 22 seconds left gave GHS a glimmer of hope. It was snuffed when San Benito recovered the onside kick.
It ended the season and career of Subia, who intercepted two passes and returned three kickoffs for 102 yards to consistently give GHS good field position.
“Frank did a great job all season,” Hammond said. “He’s probably the best free safety I ever coached.”
His running mate at safety, Vince Giacalone, also was at full speed the entire game. Sabla played with no fear, and the defensive interior of Jacob Cantu, Lemmon, Andres Barragan and Carlos Estrada did an excellent job of keeping the Mustangs from getting hurt up the middle where the ‘Balers had been at their best all season.
Senior running back Tim Lango hurt Gilroy but it was going wide out of new offensive sets San Benito hadn’t used all season. The 5-6, 160-pound Lango scored three touchdowns and was in on four of the eight plays the ‘Balers broke for 12 yards or longer.
Any of those plays could have been backbreakers for the Mustangs. But Gilroy fought to the end.
At the end, there was no question that they had played hard and with plenty of fight against as physical a team as they had faced all season.
At the end, though, the lack of not playing 48 full minutes hurt. Again.
Sub-varsity: The Gilroy junior varsity completed an 8-2 season by whipping San Benito 40-0. Tony Travis scored three touchdowns. The GHS freshmen finished 5-5, losing to the ‘Balers 23-21 on a 30-yard field goal in the last 20 seconds.
