Needing to put away the Bay Area Buccaneers in order to even
have a chance of avenging its only loss of the season, the Central
Coast Barnstormers put points on the board early and held on late
for a 31-25 victory Saturday in the Northern California Football
League quarterfinals.
GILROY – Needing to put away the Bay Area Buccaneers in order to even have a chance of avenging its only loss of the season, the Central Coast Barnstormers put points on the board early and held on late for a 31-25 victory Saturday in the Northern California Football League quarterfinals.
Now with a much-anticipated rematch with the Pacifica Islanders slated for Saturday’s semifinal round – the undefeated Islanders represent the lone loss on Central Coast’s 10-1 overall record – the Barnstormers need to avoid the second-half hiccup.
“We just need to finish the game, play four quarters,” center Jose Rodriguez said. “We’ve got the players. We’ve got the talent. It’s just a matter of getting it all together.”
Playing four quarters of football didn’t happen on Saturday against the Bucs.
“Why’d they come back?” Central Coast head coach Greg Garcia asked following his team’s six-point win over the Bucs. “Momentum change.
“You had things happen during the game like costly turnovers, field position – it changes the momentum of the game. When you have such a big lead on a team, you jump on them and you’re supposed to keep rolling. But things change.”
Jumping out to a 28-7 halftime lead through 21 unanswered points in the second quarter, the Barnstormers appeared destined to advance to the semifinal round of the NCFL playoffs with relative ease after it scored three touchdowns in a five-minute period to close out the first half.
But, like Garcia said, things change.
Held to a lone Danny Bettencourt field goal in the second half, Central Coast managed to stave off Bay Area’s best efforts late in the game, but not before the Bucs (8-3) would erase a 21-point halftime deficit.
Bay Area trailed by just six points at the 7:07 mark in the fourth quarter when quarterback Dion Pickett found Thadius Vinson down the right sideline for a 33-yard touchdown pass.
The strike represented a clear shift in the game, as Pickett’s deep pass came one play after Bay Area stopped Central Coast on a fourth-and-two situation near midfield.
But despite having all the momentum, the Bucs weren’t able to get any closer as the Barnstormers’ bend-but-don’t-break defense thwarted several late charges by Bay Area, including a drive that finished with Central Coast linebacker Tony Beal picking off a Pickett pass in the end zone with less than three minutes remaining in regulation.
“We had a great first half,” said quarterback Bryan Smith, who finished 18-for-35 for 196 yards and four touchdowns. He had two interceptions late in the game, although neither led to Bay Area scores.
“They were playing man coverage (in the first half) and they weren’t getting pressure on me. But they made a great adjustment at halftime.”
“We obviously just didn’t put up the points like we needed to continue to do (in the second half).”
Good thing the Barnstormers put up plenty in the first half.
Trailing 7-0 midway through the first, Central Coast scored 28 straight points to finish the first half, starting when Smith hit Dwayne Ice on a 7-yard in-route in the middle of the end zone with 43 ticks left in the opening quarter. Bettencourt’s point-after attempt – he was 4-for-4 on the day – was good and knotted the game at 7-all.
Although at times the Barnstormers’ attack stalled in the first half, the team took advantage of great field position throughout the second quarter, aided by Central Coast’s defense.
Following a forced fumble by Anthony Edwards, which gave the Barnstormers the ball at Bay Area’s 35, Smith found Will Bryant on a 12-yard slant five plays later for a 14-7 lead midway through the second.
On the ensuing kickoff, Ben Murdock jarred the ball loose and Central Coast took over at the Bucs’ 14. Two plays later, Smith found Greg Walton in one-on-one coverage on the left sideline for a 14-yard score and a 21-7 lead.
The Barnstormers weren’t done yet, though. Taking advantage of more Bay Area miscues, this time on an errant snap during a punt attempt, Central Coast once again received outstanding field position at the Bucs’ 37. Smith capitalized when he found Ice on a 15-yard out-route for a 28-7 lead with just 50 seconds remaining in the half.
Ice was the Barnstormers’ leading receiver, finishing with five catches for 71 yards and two touchdowns.
“In the second half they went to more zone coverage,” Smith said. “They played a softer defense. In a sense, it confused us and we weren’t as effective. I was running out of gas, bottom line.”
Although the Bucs still trailed 28-13 at the start of the fourth quarter, and later 31-13 when Bettencourt connected on a 19-yard field goal attempt with 13:02 remaining, Bay Area mounted a quick comeback behind a converted fake-punt attempt, deep strikes and a stagnant Central Coast offense that compiled just 18 total yards in the final quarter.
“They were going to some quick passes to get the jump, catching us in coverage,” Garcia said. “It’s kind of been the M.O. of a lot of teams – get the ball in the quarterback’s hands, quick throw, and see who has the better athletes at the [defensive back] spot.”
Any Central Coast miscues will need to be remedied for Saturday’s NCFL semifinal against Pacifica. As defending national champions, the Islanders defeated the Nor Cal Lawmen 36-13 last Saturday, and previously beat the Barnstormers 50-28 in Week 2.
Kick-off will be at 2 p.m. at City College of San Francisco.
“We fell apart in some areas (against the Bucs),” Rodriguez said. “From executing, from play-calling, from all aspects, we’ve just got to put it all together. We’ve got the coaches. We’ve got the players. We’ve got the talent. But like I said, we’ve got to put it all together.
“Every team is beatable. That’s what we believe in. They’re the top dogs and eventually they’re gonna go down.”
