SALINAS—Christopher couldn’t get anything going offensively against Salinas and ultimately fell 35-3 to open Gabilan Division play.
The Cougars have now dropped four in a row since defeating Gilroy to open the season.
Christopher gained one first down on the night and was held to 97 total yards with Ryan Adamkiewicz throwing for 79 of those yards on 7 of 11 passing. The Cougars’ first down came in their final drive when Adamkiewicz hit Jason Scirigone on a 42-yard catch and run to the Salinas 9 yard line.
Alex Andrade then hit a 32-yard field goal with 2:38 left in the game for Christopher’s lone score.
Despite the lopsided nature of the game, coach Tim Pierleoni was proud of his boys for standing up to the impossible odds and playing hard.
Pierleoni said he wanted to make sure his boys limited Salinas’ possessions and milk the clock as much as possible.
“I was happy with the way we played tonight,” Pierleoni said. “I thought we did a good job with the game plan that we worked on all week. I think our kids did a good job of taking the air out of the ball. That’s what we really, really needed to do against a team this good.”
Things got away from Christopher quickly as Cowboy quarterback Brett Reade connected running back Richard Cerda who was left all alone along the Salinas sideline for a 71-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage.
Reade had 178 yards passing and two touchdowns plus a rushing touchdown in two quarters of play.
Cerda rushed for 129 yards on 10 carries with two rushing touchdowns, including one on a fake punt that turned into a 42-yard score.
Salinas went up 21-0 in the first quarter with Cerda rushing for a 37-yard score and Reade rushing for a three-yard strike.
The Cowboys scored two more times in the second quarter, first on Cerda’s fake punt and a 64-yard touchdown pass from Reade to Cooper Smith.
The Cougar defense did come up with two stops in the run including Sam Blawski recovering a fumble on the CHS 14 yard line.
Just one play earlier, Keoni Calimpong intercepted Reade, but fumbled the ball on the return and Salinas recovered.
The defense made a stand on Salinas’ next series, halting the Cowboy advance short on the Christopher 33.
After that, Salinas put in its backups and combined with a running clock in the second half, allowed Christopher to escape without further damage.
The Cougars will now get a week to regroup entering into its bye week before restarting Gabilan Division play at San Benito on Oct. 7.
