APTOS – The top two rushers in the Coast Conference collide tonight when the Gavilan Rams visit the Cabrillo Seahawks at 7pm.
Loren Jensen, the Cabrillo sophomore, paces the conference rushing wars with a 109.3 yards per game record. El Ray Henry of the Rams is second with a 107.7 mark.
“We both run the football,” said Cabrillo coach Steve Cox, in his 16th season as head coach. “This may open up some play-action for both teams. Our offense has been struggling, playing maybe half of a game. We need some consistency. We’re going to be playing at home for a while so that should help us play better. We need to play a whole game, finish well.
“It’s a real challenge for us to go up against the state’s top-ranked team,” Cox continued. Gavilan is allowing a state-best 176.6 yards per outing, with second-place Sierra allowing 204.9 yards. “We’re a very young football team and we’ve gone through some valley and peaks. Jensen had 186 yards against San Jose City and 135 against Hartnell.”
Jensen was injured and not available in last season’s 20-13 loss to the Rams. Henry posted a 54-yard touchdown run to lock up the win and the Coast Conference title.
“Steve has a typical Cabrillo club, big up front with experienced running backs,” said Gavilan coach John Lango. “They run the ball extremely well and we know we’ve got to stop the run to be in the game.”
Lango noted that the Rams, 5-3 on the season, will likely gain a bowl invitation with a 7-3 record.
“We need to eliminate the turnovers that caused us so many problems in two of our losses,” said Lango.
Gavilan is 2-1, Cabrillo 1-2 in conference action.
Lango will keep Will Kilday as the starting quarterback. The redshirt freshman has covered 1224 yards with 13 touchdowns, although he tossed three interceptions in the 27-21 loss to Monterey Peninsula College last weekend.
Gavilan will complete the regular season next Saturday against San Jose City.
