A record of 0-6 was the result of Gavilan College’s foray to San Jose City College to face the Jaguars in the Coast Conference football opener for both squads.
San Jose City began defense of its conference title by storming to a 34-0 by the first five seconds of the second quarter, settling in to defeat the Rams 41-0.
Gavilan hosts West Valley College at 1pm Saturday at Live Oak High School.
Jaymason Lee made the most of 15 pass attempts in the first half, completing 10 for 166 yards and four touchdowns for the Jaguars.
Gavilan, depleted to less than three dozen players in uniform, regrouped to play the Jaguars even for the final three quarters. Freshman Jakari Johnson continued to spark the offense, rushing for 38 yards in the first half and turning two pass receptions into another 18 yards. Gavilan allowed only one touchdown in the last 44:55 of play.
Omar Kharoob was pressed into a starting role at quarterback when Nate Ellis was not available against San Jose City. Despite constant pressure and being the recipient of two late hits that turned into roughing the passer calls against the hosts, Kharoob carried out his assignments for the full 60 minutes.
Gavilan’s defensive line and linebackers negated most of the running attempts by the Jaguars. While the San Jose City passing game relied on long passes downfield, the Jaguars were limited to 65 net yards on the ground in 19 rushes by halftime.
San Jose City raced to a 6-0 lead 79 seconds into the game. After Lee found Harry Adjei behind the Ram defense for a 34-pass to the Ram 41, Isiah Harris slanted off right tackle and went the distance for the Jaguars’ first touchdown.
Jaguar CJ Carter recovered a Ram fumble on the kick-off, setting up a 29-yard scoring march in six plays. The Jaguars turned a fourth-and-two play into a touchdown when Lee converted a play-action pass to Maverick Satele out of the backfield for the seven-yard TD reception to make it 13-0.
A high snap on a Gavilan punt try at the Ram four gave San Jose City the ball with 8:11 left in the first quarter. Lee found Kalechi Nwabi open in the right corner of the end zone for the four-yard scoring toss and a 19-0 cushion.
Gavilan fumbled the ball over to the Jaguars on the next kick-off, putting the Jaguars in business at the Ram 33. Lee lofted a 33-yard touchdown behind the defense Edgar Valle on the first play from scrimmage.
The first Ram punt of the game set up SJCC at the Jaguar 20 with 4:14 left in the first quarter. Nine plays later, Lee found Jovan Murphy open from the four-yard stripe for the 34-0 advantage five seconds into the second quarter.
