Emotional night, emotional win for Gilroy football

Gilroy’s emotional week culminated with an emotional win 37-14 over North Monterey County Friday as the Mustangs closed out the regular season in honor of Dylan Holler.
Holler was in an accident Wednesday morning that left him severely injured after his Jeep collided with a trailer of a big rig as he drove to school.
The junior running back has been an integral part of the team’s success this year and a close friend to his teammates.
Gilroy players donned No. 5 on towels and on their arms to make sure Holler could still be at the game. A shirt reading Holler Strong was draped over a bench on the GHS sideline.
Players before the game took a knee in front of the shirt and through out the game, they gave a little knock on the bench.
Gilroy started the game with 10 players, leaving Holler’s position open for him to fill it.
“It meant a lot. He’s our brother and we’re a family,” said running back Joseph Barnes. “We just wanted to do what ever we can. We love him, he’s our brother. We just want to help him out any way that we can and our way is on the field. We just want him to be there.”
After the game, Rodriguez could only focus on one thing: That prayers and thoughts were with Holler and the game was secondary.
“They’ve become a family right before our eyes. It’s unfortunate that we’re missing a member at the moment, physically,” Rodriguez said. “I just want to say this game was for him.”
The emotion of Friday completely upstaged what was a historical night for the Mustangs.
With the win, Gilroy finished with its best record (7-3, 5-1) since 2008 when the Mustangs went 9-1 in the regular season.
“It’s a big accomplishment, especially with what we’ve been going through all season,” Barnes said. “We grew as a family. Many people didn’t think it was going to happen, but we did it.”
Gilroy will now be rewarded with its first home playoff game since that year when the Mustangs hosted Serra.
“I’m proud of the boys for continuing to believe in the coaching staff and continuing to believe in the process,” Rodriguez said. “It was really awesome to watch. But the game tonight was for Dylan.”
The Mustangs will host No. 6 seed Gunderson 7 p.m. Friday night.
The win came as a result of a tenacious defense that came away with nine turnovers, including stopping the Condors on fourth down three times.
Gilroy then turned those turnovers into 31 points.
“We were just executing and reading our keys,” Barnes said, who had one of those turnovers. “We were bending but not breaking and made some plays out there.”
The Mustangs turned the ball over four times. Twice, however, NMC turned the ball back over on the very next play. But one turnover led to the Condors’ first touchdown, coming in the third quarter with Gilroy already leading 31-0.
And the Mustangs had an immediate answer as they went 70 yards on four plays with Richard Perez running for 27 yards and a 37-6 lead.
Barnes rushed for 127 yards and three touchdowns. Perez followed with 93 yards rushing and a touchdown.
Quarterback Jon Jon Castro threw for 101 yards on three of four passing and a touchdown. He also rushed for the first score of the game.
Castro opened the scoring when he rushed for 27-yards to cap a 77-yard drive after NMC’s opening series ended when the Condors failed to convert on fourth down.
Castro got Gilroy rolling a short time later when he intercepted Steven Flores, setting up the Mustangs on the NMC 32.
Four plays later, Barnes punched the ball in from two yards out for a 12-0 lead.
The Mustangs then went up 18-0 after a trio of turnovers set Gilroy up on the NMC 34.
First Eddie Vargas pulled down the first of his two interceptions, but Gilroy fumbled on its ensuing possession.
But Barnes got the ball back immediately when he recovered a Flores fumble.
And he found pay dirt on the very next play when he ran 66 yards for a touchdown.
Gilroy ultimately scored three times in the second quarter, including a 60-yard strike from Castro to Max Pierce, who caught the ball among a double team, broke several tackles and marched into the endzone.
Gilroy got one last strike at the endzone a short time later when Brandon Weiler pulled down an interception, setting up a three-play, 79-yard drive with Barnes going the final 31 yards for a 31-0 lead at halftime.
NMC got rolling on its first drive of the second half, nearly going 75 yards on 16 plays but were stopped on the GHS 7 when Vargas caught his second interception of the night.
Unfortunately, the offense wasn’t able to capitalize as NMC recovered a fumbled snap on the Gilroy 1.
NMC nearly scored on the ensuing play from scrimmage, but was called for a snap infraction when the center kept the ball and smashed his way into the end zone.
But two plays later Isaac Martinez ran the ball in from one yard out.
Perez got the score back when he ran in his 27-yard touchdown for a 37-6 lead after three quarters.
That’s where the score stood until late in the fourth quarter when the Condors went 85 yards with A.B. Lazaro going the final yard to put the score at 37-14 with 1:35 to play.
Gilroy now will get ready for Gunderson, who finished the season in a three-way tie for the Blossom Valley Athletic League-West Valley Division with a 6-1 mark (8-2 overall.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at GHS.