Quarterback Jonathan Singleton threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns. Receiver Jaime Martinez caught 11 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns.
It was an incredible night for both players against Gilroy, but it wasn’t enough.
The Mustangs amassed 582 yards of total offense as they defeated Live Oak 47-28 Sept. 8.
It was the first time in six years that Gilroy has bested Live Oak and the first time since 2008 that Gilroy has started a season 3-0.
“It sounds good to me,” said runningback Joe Barnes. “Honestly I thought it was longer than that.”
The Acorns fall to 1-2 despite taking a 21-12 lead in the second quarter.
Gilroy, however, scored 28 straight points between the end of the first half and into the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.
“It feels good. I’m at a loss for words right now,” said coach Jubenal Rodriguez. “We put in a lot of work since I got hired in Jan. 2015. It feels real good but we’re not done yet.”
The Mustangs are showing no signs of slowing down having come out against tough teams each of the three weeks, took a few lumps for a half but made the adjustments to put the team over the top.
“I love my coaching staff and our strength is going in at halftime and making adjustments and that is what we did,” said coach Jubenal Rodriguez.
In the second half, Live Oak showed it could move the ball, but wasn’t able to convert the long drives into points.
A 12-play drive in the third quarter stalled inside of Gilroy territory after recorded a sack that cost the Acorns 17 yards.
Meanwhile, Live Oak couldn’t stop Gilroy’s offense.
Midway through the second quarter, Martinez pulled down an interception. It was the last time of the night the defense put a halt to Gilroy’s attack.
The Mustangs broke through with the big play, scoring on six plays of more than 20 yards and three plays of more than 50 yards.
Runningback Joe Barnes rushed for 244 yards and three touchdowns and caught a pass that went for a 79-yard touchdown.
Quarterback Jon Jon Castro threw for 277 yards and four touchdowns, two of which went to tight end Andrew Castro.
Andrew only caught two passes on the night, one for a 20-yard TD and the other for a 59-yard score.
Receiver Max Pierce caught for passes for 115 yards and a touchdown.
His shortest reception on the night went for 15 yards.
Pierce’s touchdown reception went for 25 yards.
Gilroy’s shortest touchdown of the night came right after its longest touchdown of the night thanks to a little luck on the kickoff.
It started with one of the best punts to be executed deep in an opponent’s zone.
Christian Guary hit a little pooch kick that put Gilroy on its own 1 yard line, but the defense couldn’t get a stop.
Barnes needed four carries to go 99 yards with his final rush going for 86 yards for a 33-21 lead.
Gilroy then kicked off short and the ball fell into the Mustangs’ arms and took over on the Live Oak 39 yard line.
Eight plays and two false starts later, Barnes took the ball four yards on fourth down to put Gilroy up 40-21.
The Acorns finally had an answer on its next series thanks to Singleton hitting Martinez for a 48-yard touchdown pass to pull Live Oak to within 12 with 7:16 to play.
But Gilroy needed just three plays to get back to a three-score lead with the Castros teaming up for a 59-yard strike for the final margin.
Andrew found himself wide open on top of the defense and it was just a matter of getting the ball into his hands and letting him run with it.
“I knew he was going to catch it, we just had to get it to him,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a sure catch kid. I’m real proud of these boys and real proud of this coaching staff.”
The Acorns’ final drive of the night ended with an interception and Gilroy took knees to finish off the game.
In the first half, Live Oak had a glimmer of hope despite giving up an early touchdown to Barnes.
After exchanging turnovers, Live Oak needed just five plays to go 58 yards as Singleton found Guary in the endzone for a 17-yard TD pass to take a 7-6 lead.
Gilroy’s next three drives ended with out scores, including Martinez pulling down an interception in the second quarter.
Live Oak padded its lead on the ensuing series needing one snap to go 49 yards with Singleton hitting Martinez for a 49-yard strike.
“Their quarterback was scrambling in the first half and we couldn’t stop it really,” Rodriguez said. “We made some adjustments up front, changed some technique and it worked.”
Gilroy responded with a 79-yard screen pass to Barnes who broke a tackle and was off to the races, pulling the Mustangs to within two at 14-12.
But Live Oak’s offense had an answer as the Acorns went 53 yards on seven plays with Singleton punching the ball in from one yard out to take a 21-12 lead.
Up next
Gilroy will now host Harbor in its final non-league tuneup of the season.
Harbor will be tough despite its 1-2 overall record, having suffered tough losses to two really good teams in Clear Lake and Gunn.
Harbor opened the season with a win over Yerba Buena, but then got rolled 54-12 to Clear Lake of Lakeport and 52-20 to Gunn of Palo Alto.
Gilroy will have to key on quarterback Bailey Schantz who does a little of everything for Harbor.
Schantz leads the team in rushing with 606 yards through three games and has thrown for 226 yards with a touchdown against four interceptions.
In the passing game, he has a mixture of targets to throw to, but his bread and butter is his legs.
No one else on the team has even broken 30 yards on the ground, so the Mustang defense will need to know where he is at all times.
Kickoff for Friday’s game is at 7:30 p.m. for homecoming.
That will then lead to Gilroy’s league opener against Alisal Sept. 22.
