GILROY – Following a week off, the Gilroy High football team
returns to action tonight as they travel to Salinas and take on
Alisal in a Tri County Athletic League showdown.
GILROY – Following a week off, the Gilroy High football team returns to action tonight as they travel to Salinas and take on Alisal in a Tri County Athletic League showdown.
With a 1-1 league mark (2-4 overall), the Mustangs are right in the middle of the TCAL standings, sandwiched between 2-1 Salinas – who face Alvarez this week – and a 1-1 North Salinas team that has Palma waiting for them. San Benito sits atop the seven-team league with a 3-0 record, 7-0 overall.
Despite some of the hardships and injuries the Mustangs have endured thus far, head coach Greg Garcia said the team isn’t losing sight of the tasks that are in front of them the remainder of the season.
“Everybody is still in the running for a TCAL championship,” Garcia said. “Everyone is pretty much in the same boat. The other thing is, too, is that CCS is still looking pretty bright for us. If you don’t win the TCAL title you have to look to making the playoffs.”
There are two ways for a football team to approach a bye week. The first is to treat the time off as a vacation of sorts, forget all your troubles and relax. The other, more effective approach is to hit the field full-force and take advantage of the extra practice time.
Garcia said after the Mustangs last game two weeks ago against Salinas that he hated bye weeks and his goal was to have his players keep up the intensity they exhibited in the final quarter of their 42-28 loss against the Cowboys.
“To get better at what we do,” Garcia said bluntly about the team’s focus during the off week. “We focused on taking things seriously. Just because we didn’t have a game doesn’t mean we have to practice with that mentality.”
Alisal limps into tonight’s matchup having lost its last three times out. The Trojans lost to the Cowboys last week which is about the only thing them and Mustangs have in common.
The Trojans (1-6, 0-3) sprinkle in a few pass plays here and there, but mainly rely on running back Johnny Morales. The Trojans leading ground gainer has rushed for 426 yards on 99 carries this year, having his number called on 40 percent of the plays.
“We have to start of with a bang,” Garcia said. “We want to score first and keep it going. We’ve seen enough film where team’s get the jump and (Alisal) has shown tendencies to stop playing.”
Key to the game:
GHS has yet to establish a consistent rushing attack. If they can rush the ball at least 20 times they should leave with a win.
