GILROY—Gavilan was just six minutes away from doing something it hadn’t in 20 years—go 3-0 to start the season. But its opponents, Yuba College, weren’t ready to throw in the towel.
The Forty Niners scored 14 points in the last six minutes to upset Gavilan 45-35 at home on Sept. 20, ending the Rams streak in the process. While the loss was disappointing, head coach Spencer Gilford said the Rams have put it behind them and are charging ahead—but they won’t forget what happened.
“In this game, we kind of lost our focus in terms of what’s important,” Gilford said. “That’s why we’ve really taken this game against Yuba as a learning opportunity to prepare us for league play.”
Golden Coast League play starts this week with a 7 p.m. game at Reedley on Sept. 27. Gavilan has spent the week cleaning up the mistakes it made against Yuba, mainly its 13 penalties which cost it 205 yards as well as the five fumbles—two of which were lost. Gilford said the team hasn’t been working any more than normal on ball protection than it has in previous weeks, but it’s certainly putting more emphasis on it.
“We’re taking this as a game that we can learn a lot from,” Gilford said. “We did a good job in the first two games protecting the ball and getting the ball back for our offense.”
The Rams defense forced five turnovers heading into its game against Yuba—including a big 99-yard pick six in Week 2 against Mendocino. Gavilan’s special teams unit helped the team regain a 35-31 early in the fourth quarter against Yuba when Anthony Brooks powered through Yuba’s punt protection to block Jesse Brock’s kick. Darche Jordan picked up the loose ball and took it 44 yards to the endzone.
Gavilan is about to face a defense that’s just as stealthy. Reedley’s defense scored 22 points off back-to-back 52- and 45-yard interception returns followed by a 43-yard fumble return in its 43-38 loss to Contra Costa last week.
While Gavilan’s offense wasn’t as explosive as it was in the first two weeks—it put up 63 points in Week 1 and 64 in Week 2—Gilford noted that 35 points still should’ve been enough to win. The Rams racked up 441 yards of total offense, 282 of it from standout quarterback Drew Fryhoff. The gunslinger was 24 for 36 with two touchdowns, bringing his season total to 904 yards and eight touchdowns. He’s got plenty of options when it comes to receivers and the Tigers will have to decide which way he’s going to throw. Deniko Carter had nine receptions for 128 yards and a touchdown, while Armani Miller had five for 62 with a touchdown against Yuba.
But Gavilan’s defense will face a similar problem as it faces a pass-heavy offense that features Sean Stell Jr. at quarterback. While Stell had just 163 yards in the air last week, he has 757 so far this season. He also has a tandem of receivers that the Tigers will look to deceive Gavilan with in Rafael Araujo-Lopes and Terrell McLaughlin.
Since Gavilan has faced throw-first opponents the last three weeks, Gilford said they’re not doing anything different.
“(We’re) just focusing on executing; our execution wasn’t at the level it was the previous two games,” he said. “That’s been our focus is executing the call and doing the best we can within the framework of the defense.”
And in terms of what it’ll take to win, Gilford said the keys to victory remain the same as always:
“Win the turnover battle, finish the half, finish the game.”
