The lights went out early at Leland High School Friday night,
but the offense sure didn’t for the Chargers. Despite a 30-minute
power outage delay late in the second half, the Chargers provided
enough offensive power (563 total yards) to spark a 65-42 victory
over the Mustangs. Read story
By Josiah Rodriguez
The lights went out early at Leland High School, but the offense sure didn’t for the Chargers.
A 30-minute power outage delay late in the second half didn’t do much to throw off Leland’s electric attack, as the Chargers provided enough offensive power (563 total yards) to spark a 64-42 victory over the Mustangs in a non-league encounter Friday night in San Jose.
“They were physical,” Mustangs head coach Steven Lo said. “We had our hands full. They did a good job and hats off to them.”
The power outage was due to Leland High School’s 10 p.m. automatic shutdown and contributed to what Chargers head Coach Mike Carrozzo called the longest non-overtime game in school history.
Led by 6 foot-1, 215-pound Boise State commit, Chris Santini, the Chargers running core totaled 363 yards. Santini contributed 280 of those yards and five touchdowns for a Leland squad ranked No. 7 in the Central Coast Section.
“We came in hoping we were going to perform well tonight,” Santini said. “My blockers did a great job and every one blocked who they were supposed to, which made it easy for me to find holes,”
Despite a lopsided end result, it was Gilroy which drew first blood when Niko Fortino (24-38 417 yards 4 TDs) connected with wide receiver Ryan Alba in the left corner of the end zone to give the Mustangs an early 8-0 lead after a successful 2-pt conversion with 9 minutes left in the first quarter.
Scores would be exchanged several times in the first half, but with the Mustangs up 29-28 and in their own red zone with 2 minutes to play before halftime, Charger linebacker Tim Mclaughlin intercepted a Fortino pass which he took 90 yards for a Leland score and a 35-29 lead into the break.
“We needed to have less mental errors,” said GHS receiver/cornerback Jourdan Soares about the Mustangs’ offensive breakdown. “That play is no ones fault but the team’s. But a touchdown there could have given us much more motivation.”
Leland was able to match every Mustangs’ touchdown with one of its own throughout the entire game, but none was bigger for the Chargers than one in the third quarter.
After Soares did his best track-start routine, returning the second half opening kickoff 92 yards to give the Mustangs a 36-35, Santini scored one of his four rushing touchdowns, a 34-yard run that gave the Chargers a 41-36 lead with 7:52 in the third. The Chargers scored on their next three possessions before the Mustangs added a late fourth quarter touchdown pass from Fortino to Christian Goldstein.
“Coach Lo and his staff prepared well and battle every week and we just tried to battle with them,” said Carrozzo about answering against the potent Mustangs’ offense.
Carrozzo said it was difficult to game plan against such an offensive threat as Soares who tallied 195 receiving yards and two touchdowns, but thought his team contained both of them well. This included forcing Fortino to throw his first two interceptions of the season.
Jason Habash threw for 209 yards and two touchdowns, including a well-executed screen pass to running back Kenny Portera that turned into a 56-yard touchdown that tied the game 22-22 with 6:00 in the second quarter.
This is the second straight week that Gilroy (1-2) has allowed more than 300 rushing yards to their opponent and is coming off a loss to Saratoga High School.
The Mustangs were lead on the ground by sophomore Brandon Boyd who contributed 76 yards on 17 rushing attempts
“Our offense will get better and better as we go along,” said Fortino about the Mustangs offense that was outscored 29-13 in the second half. “We just need to make sure we score more often to give our defense a break.”
Gilroy, following a bye Friday, begins league play when they host North Salinas on Oct. 1.
