Gilroy’s final tune-up before facing Palma next Friday wasn’t
its best showing to date, but the Mustangs will take it.
What else would you expect a team to do when it wins 60-14
despite having its worst defensive performance of the season?
The Mustangs (7-0) had trouble stopping the Alisal Trojans’
rushing attack, which scored twice on runs by Aaron Suarez-Lopez in
the third quarter, but still trumped the visitors (3-5) in
impressive fashion Friday night at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex,
setting up a battle royale on Halloween with the 6-1
Chieftains.
Palma and Gilroy are the only two teams still undefeated in
Tri-County Athletic League play at 3-0.
Also with this story, photo gallery.
GILROY – Gilroy’s final tune-up before facing Palma next Friday wasn’t its best showing to date, but the Mustangs will take it.
What else would you expect a team to do when it wins 60-14 despite having its worst defensive performance of the season?
The Mustangs (7-0) had trouble stopping the Alisal Trojans’ rushing attack, which scored twice on runs by Aaron Suarez-Lopez in the third quarter, but still trumped the visitors (3-5) in impressive fashion Friday night at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex, setting up a battle royale on Halloween with the 6-1 Chieftains.
Palma and Gilroy are the only two teams still undefeated in Tri-County Athletic League play at 3-0.
Taking a 31-0 lead into halftime, the Mustangs scored through the air, on the ground and by special teams. Ivan Lopez made a 27-yard field goal, Peter Guenther, Lelan Gettys, and Sean Hale all ran for touchdowns, and Hale also snagged a Jamie Jensen pass for a 14-yard score.
“I was trying to make up for last week,” Hale said of his evening, adding that next week’s contest will be played at “a whole other level.”
“It’s the league championship right there.”
Palma (6-1) topped North Salinas 20-14 Friday night in Salinas, dropping the Vikings to 2-1 in league with the loss. It was North Salinas’ first defeat of the season in seven games.
Jensen was impressive in limited action, finishing 13-of-21 for 214 yards and two touchdowns. He was benched for the first two series of the game for showing up late to Thursday morning’s walk-through, giving junior quarterback Nick Marra the opportunity to lead Gilroy to touchdowns on its first two drives of the game.
Marra was perfect on all six of his first-half passes, and finished the game 12-of-13 for 127 yards and a touchdown.
Gilroy receiver Dante Fullard stuck to his usual script, catching eight passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns, both of which came in the third quarter. He also had a 1-yard touchdown run in between his two other scores.
Gettys had a second touchdown run late in the third quarter.
While Gilroy’s offense was nearly unstoppable, its defense was uncharacteristically off balance. A missed field on Alisal’s first drive of the game kept the Trojans from scoring until its first series of the second half, which was aided in field position by a botched onside kick by the Mustangs. Suarez-Lopez, who finished with 10 carries for 143 yards, scored two plays later on a 16-yard run.
“Our kids we’re coming to far up the field,” defensive coordinator Chris Vasseur said about Gilroy’s problems stopping the run. The Mustangs allowed 301 yards rushing.
Vasseur noted that it was something that can be corrected in practice over the next week.
The Mustangs did have their moments on the opposite side of the ball, recording five sacks (two by both linebacker Logan Sweeney and defensive end Chris McMurray), a safety and two interceptions, both of which were picked off by safety Tony Travis.
With Gilroy’s toughest opponent of the season coming up next week, and North Salinas posing a challenge the following week, Mustangs head coach Rich Hammond said there will be no free passes the rest of the way.
“We’re at the point where it’s rock ’em, sock ’em from here on out,” he said.
Weekly Awards
Offensive Play of the Game
Scatback Sean Hale had a nasty move on a 14-yard touchdown catch and run in the second quarter to help give Gilroy a 24-0 lead in the game.
Coming over the middle, Hale caught the ball and then proceeded to break the ankles of an Alisal defender by faking left and then breezing to the right and into the endzone.
Defensive Play of the Game
Tony Travis had two interceptions, but the first was a thing of beauty. With a receiver coming across the middle, Travis made a diving catch just in time. The play set up a 28-yard touchdown catch by Dante Fullard the very next down.
Special Teams Play of the Game
The play didn’t do a thing to change the outcome but watching Adam Guajardo chug 20 yards on a kickoff return was one of the moments that will stand out from an otherwise mundane 60-14 win.
Note:
GHS senior receiver Dante Fullard was named the 49ers High School Player of the Week after helping Gilroy beat Pacific Grove 55-7.
Fullard, who maintains a 3.3 GPA, had 5 catches for 139 yards and scored 3 touchdowns. He also rushed 3 times for 8 yards and scored 1 touchdown.
The award is given out weekly to a local student-athletes who boast outstanding achievements as varsity football players both on and off the field. Fullard will receive a certificate signed by former 49ers Head Coach Mike Nolan, a 49ers hat and T-shirt, two tickets to a 49ers home game and a feature on 49ers.com. (Good luck selling that Nolan signature on E-Bay, Dante.)
TCAL leaders
Passing
Name, School Com Att Yd Int TD
Jensen, Gilroy 104 167 1787 7 21
Fales, Palma 83 112 1304 1 13
Vallejo, Hollister 43 105 679 4 5
Rocamora, Alvarez 60 110 670 7 4
Gregg, Salinas 31 82 500 10 5
Mi. Ramos, N. Salinas 27 62 483 10 8
Aportela, Alisal 38 92 434 7 3
Marra, Gilroy 36 52 363 1 5
De La Rosa, Alvarez 17 49 217 2 0
Fabing, Hollister 12 22 154 0 2
Rushing
Name, School Att Yd Avg
Ma. Ramos, N. Salinas 105 886 8.4
Jelks, Salinas 169 846 5.0
Olivarria, Palma 86 756 8.7
Bautista, N. Salinas 91 556 6.1
Enriquez, Alisal 102 549 5.3
Grant, Alisal 77 494 6.4
Guenther, Gilroy 35 281 8.0
Melesio, Alvarez 67 222 3.3
Rosa, Alvarez 22 221 10.0
Brooks, N. Salinas 24 218 9.0
Suarez-Lopez, Alisal 33 200 6.0
Mendez, Alisal 49 200 4.0
Gregg, Salinas 58 185 3.1
Padilla, Hollister 45 181 4.0
Bernaldez, Hollister 42 180 4.2
Jones, Alvarez 25 165 6.6
Vega, Alvarez 32 156 4.8
Souza, Salinas 25 155 6.2
B. Taylor, Palma 16 144 9.0
Cathirell, Hollister 29 135 4.6
Fullard, Gilroy 14 124 8.8
Rushing touchdown leaders: Olivarria (Palma) 9, Jelks (Salinas) 7, Bautista (N. Salinas) 7, Ma. Ramos (N. Salinas) 6, Enriquez (Alisal) 6, Gregg (Salinas) 5, Grant (Alisal) 4, Fullard (Gilroy) 4
Receiving
Name, School Rec Yds Avg
Fullard, Gilroy 41 825 20.1
Chernetsky, Palma 32 536 16.7
Hale, Gilroy 27 496 18.3
Perez, Alvarez 25 341 13.6
McFadden, Hollister 24 400 16.6
Gettys, Gilroy 18 242 13.4
Olivarria, Palma 16 250 15.6
Crosby, Salinas 15 264 17.6
Guenther, Gilroy 15 195 13.0
Grant, Alisal 14 144 10.2
B. Taylor, Palma 12 262 21.8
G. Taylor, Palma 11 123 11.1
Martinez, Gilroy 11 115 10.4
Melesio, Alvarez 11 45 4.0
Romero, Alvarez 9 80 8.8
Martinez, N. Salinas 8 221 27.6
Cornell, Hollister 8 209 26.1
Skinner, Alvarez 7 98 14.0
Delgado, Gilroy 7 93 13.2
Ma. Ramos, N. Salinas 7 76 10.8
Cathirell, Hollister 7 73 10.4
Suarez-Lopez, Alisal 7 68 9.7
Ramirez, Alisal 7 67 9.5
Receiving touchdown leaders: Fullard (Gilroy) 11, Chernetsky (Palma) 7, Hale (Gilroy) 6, Martinez (N. Salinas) 5, Crosby (Salinas) 4, Perez (Alvarez) 4.
Overall area touchdown leaders
Fullard, Gilroy 15
Olivarria, Palma 11
Melendrez, Carmel 11
Tamayo, Greenfield 11
Hale, Gilroy 9
Williams, Monterey 9
Ma. Ramos, N. Salinas 8
Chernetsky, Palma 8
Jelks, Salinas 8
Pina, King City 8
Bautista, N. Salinas 7
Kemper, Monterey 7
Cabral, Pac Grove 7
Enriquez, Alisal 6
Hopkins, Carmel 6
Guenther, Gilroy 6
Grant, Alisal 5
Gregg, Salinas 5
Martinez, N. Salinas 5
Perez, Alvarez 5
Rivera, Paj. Valley 5
Solano, MVC 5
Nguyen, Seaside 5
Perez, Greenfield 5
Flores, Greenfield 5
Pina, Pac Grove 5
K. Johnston, Carmel 5
C. Johnston, Carmel 5
