Gilroy football continues to show the swagger of a team in
control of its destiny.
Rolling over the Pacific Grove Breakers 55-7 Friday night at
Garcia-Elder Sports Complex, the Mustangs improved to 6-0 while
providing plenty of first-half fireworks for the hometown
crowd.
Also with this story, video photo gallery.
GILROY – Gilroy football continues to show the swagger of a team in control of its destiny.
Rolling over the Pacific Grove Breakers 55-7 Friday night at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex, the Mustangs improved to 6-0 while providing plenty of first-half fireworks for the hometown crowd. Scoring all 55 in the first two quarters, Gilroy set a new school record for points in a half before putting the playbook to bed after the intermission.
It’s the latest in a series of record-setting performances this season. The Mustangs achieved the most lopsided win in GHS history by beating Alvarez 57-0 two weeks ago.
“We practice eight hours a week for 48 minutes,” Gilroy coach Rich Hammond told his team after the game, “so don’t waste a second out there.”
It’s likely that wasn’t the first time Gilroy’s players have heard such a message, as the Mustangs wasted no time in building a 28-0 lead halfway through the first quarter.
Gilroy’s defense almost achieved its second shutout of the season, but the Breakers (2-4) were finally able to break through on a 3-yard touchdown run by Ferny Cabral with just less than three minutes remaining.
The defense couldn’t feel too bad, though. It allowed only 93 yards rushing, no completions and tripled the offensive output of Pacific Grove.
Brandon Elam and Nick Gibson both recovered fumbles for touchdowns, and Jeff Smith returned an interception 99 yards to put Gilroy up 48-0 with 3:53 remaining in the first half following an Ivan Lopez extra point.
“I had to wait for it a while,” said Smith, who also recovered a fumble caused by Lukas Fortino. “The first thing I saw was a defender, I cut back, and then all I saw was field. So I was like, ‘Go, go.’ ”
Dante Fullard scored the Mustangs’ final touchdown of the game a little more than three minutes later on a 45-yard post pattern. He finished with four touchdowns overall, including a 1-yard sneak.
Quarterback Jamie Jensen completed 10-of-12 passes for 189 yards and three scores, all of which went to Fullard on receptions of 29 yards or longer. The senior receiver finished with five catches for 140 yards.
“To be a part of [this team] is amazing,” Fullard said. “I came to the games (as a kid), but I never thought we would be this good.”
Peter Guenther had two rushing attempts for 69 yards, his second carry resulting in a 32-yard touchdown with 10:11 remaining in the second quarter to put Gilroy up 41-0.
Gilroy special teams also had a feather to put in its cap, blocking a field goal on the Breakers’ first possession of the second half.
“I said (to the team), ‘We gotta come out and play a good half of football,’ ” Hammond recounted. “Games eight, nine and 10 are so difficult, we have to get better.”
Matchups with Palma, North Salinas and San Benito following Friday’s game against Alisal will certainly provide more of a test than the Breakers did. But if the Mustangs play any better than they did in Friday’s first half, it’s looking like only the hearts of their opponents will be broken.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Offensive Play of the Game:
Dante Fullard pulled a move that will henceforth be called “The Matador.” Catching the ball on an out-route to the left in the second quarter, Fullard stopped on a dime – as a Pacific Grove defender was caught being too bullish in pursuit and ran past him out of bounds – and then streaked up the sideline untouched for a touchdown. Fullard had four scores total on the game. Ridiculous.
Defensive Play of the Game:
Chris McMurray delivered a crushing sack from behind to force a fumble that was eventually recovered by Nick Gibson in the endzone. That play will have to share the honors with two others.
One, Brandon Elam had a nice fumble recovery for a touchdown on a botched pitch. He didn’t really break stride the whole way. And two, Jeff Smith returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown, which is believed to be the longest return in school history after Tony Travis took one back 95 yards in Week 3 against Palo Alto.
Strangest Moment of the Game:
Walking into Garcia-Elder Sports Complex and thinking the junior varsity game had run long. C’mon people. Just because a victory is all but assured, that doesn’t mean you stop showing up to support the team. What if Gilroy scores 100 this Friday against Alisal. Don’t you want to say you were there?
Funniest Moment of the Game:
It’s a tie between backup quarterback Nick Marra doing his best Barry Sanders impersonation on a scramble and kicker Anthony Velasquez making a tackle, or being tackled depending on your point of view.
Special Comment:
I had a GHS coach come up to me at halftime and say the defense was so good – the unit had already scored three touchdowns in the first half of Friday’s game and hasn’t allowed more than 13 points in a game this season – that it deserved a nickname.
I agree. But I also think the offense has picked it up substantially, and the special teams has been amazing, too.
Rather than selecting a nickname by myself, or one unit over another, I thought it would be more fun, and democratic since we’re in an election year, to open up the choice of a team nickname to all of you.
Go online to vote for three choices I came up with, or submit your own in the “other” box. I will have a short column online on Wednesday with some of the best reader submissions. The vote will then start fresh.
The leading vote-getter combined with my vote, which will be weighted, will be announced in Friday’s paper.
Rock the vote.
