The Gilroy football team had opportunities to steal a victory from North Monterey County last Saturday on the road.
The Mustangs had the ball with less than two minutes to play after forcing a fumble and subsequently gave themselves several good looks at the endzone.
Ultimately, however, Gilroy couldn’t capitalize and fell 20-16.
“That was all I can ask for,” said coach Jubenal Rodriguez of his team’s effort at the end.
In the game, freshman kicker Vincent Thai booted a 33-yard field goal and the Mustangs got touchdown runs from Noe Garcia and Anthony Bollendorf to keep the game close.
Garcia scored on a 54-yard run while Bollendorf punched it in from three yards out to cap a 65-yard drive.
Nick Perez and Daniel Angelo both stood out on defense, Rodriguez said, including pulling down interceptions in the game.
Now the focus turns to a Pajaro Valley team that has yet to win a league game, but is coming off a nonleague win versus St. Francis of Watsonville.
“Pajaro will have momentum coming into this game. They’re coming into this game after scoring 46 points on an opponent,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t care who you play or the quality of the opponent” that’s impressive.
The Grizzlies will feature a dual quarterback system, which Rodriguez has first-hand experience running from his time as an assistant with Sobrato last year.
“Having experience part with dual quarterback system only certain amount of plays set for certain plays for each quarterback,” Rodriguez said.
He added that with the system, each quarterback will primarily run either run or pass. That can affect how he will call his defense based on who is in to take the snap.
But ultimately, Rodriguez said it’s up to his boys to get the job done.
“In this B league, I feel like anybody can beat anybody. This is not for sure win. We’re going in with mindset of only we can beat ourselves.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at Christopher High School as the Gilroy track is redone. The time was also to accommodate senior activities in the evening.
