Football scores and highlights from around the section.
Final scores
Palma 48, Alisal 9
Seaside 16, Salinas 7
Gilroy 30, Terra Nova 23
Selma 21, Greenfield 8
Gonzales 42, San Jose 0
Santa Cruz 26, PG 20
North Salinas 40, SLV 19
Hollister 20, Wilcox 20
Aptos 14, Monterey 7
MVC 14, King City 0
Monte Vista Christian Mustangs defeated Norm Silva and his King City Mustangs, 14-0, at sun-scorched Mustang Stadium in Watsonville.
Monte Vista scored two first-half touchdowns and used its defensive quickness to pitch a shutout.
King City’s offense never got untracked. The south county boys had only four first downs, two in each half, and netted only 68 yards of total offense for the game.
King City had only two plays of 10 yards or more. But one of them was spectacular and worth noting. On the last play of the third period, wideout Ben Plaskett was in the middle of a Monte Vista sandwich. Nevertheless, he outjumped the two defenders and snagged a 42-yard pass from Carlos Mendivil.
Monte Vista’s breakaway threat Kevin Carver got his team on the board with a 62-yard scamper barely two minutes into the game. In the second quarter, Kyle Bokariza completed a meat-grinder-like 53-yard, 12-play drive with a 2-yard burst.
Carver had 102 yards rushing in the first quarter alone. But because of the heat, he spent most of the rest of his playing time Saturday on defense. He finished the day with 107 yards on nine carries.
David Martinez got most of the calls in the second half and finished with 51 yards. Erik Orozco was King City’s leading ground-gainer with 24 yards.
King City will get homecooking and presumably cooler weather Friday night when it entertains North Monterey at War Memorial Stadium. Monte Vista visits Robert Louis Stevenson on Saturday.
North County 26, Soquel 7
At North County, The Condors set the tone early when they took the opening kickoff and put together a near flawless 73-yard, eight-play drive to take the lead for good.
Senior quarterback Nick Liedel, making his first varsity start, capped the initial drive with a soft four-yard touchdown toss to Travis Bell.
The Condors looked in mid-season form on their second drive as well by going 77 yards on nine plays. Again it was Liedel throwing for a touchdown, this time 42 yards to Alex Doucet for a 14-0 advantage.
North County’s defense, which held Soquel scoreless until the final five minutes, scored the Condors third touchdown of the first half when Miguel Abundiz raced 60 yards with an interception.
Matt Diaz, who rushed for 148 yards, scored the Condors’ only touchdown of the second half on a 43-yard run in the fourth quarter.
Liedel completed 7 of 13 passes for 122 yards.
North County visits King City on Friday.
Valley Christian 44, Alvarez 7
At Valley Christian, Playing the No. 1 ranked team in the CCS on the road and in temperatures that nearly hit triple digits were too much for the Eagles to overcome in their season debut.
Valley Christian, which had already played one game, improved to 2-0. It held a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Trailing 24-0, Alvarez scored its touchdown on a six-yard run by Anthony Martinez and trailed 24-7 at halftime.
Martinez led Alvarez with 21 yards on seven carries. Tight end Gabe Ruelas caught two passes for 40 yards while Richard Vizcaino grabbed four passes for 29 yards.
Alvarez quarterback Jo Jo Velasquez completed 6 of 25 passes for 69 yards and was intercepted three times.
Alvarez is home this Saturday to Hollister.
Soledad 14, Hillsdale 7
At Soledad, the Aztecs rallied for a pair of touchdowns in the second half to overcome a 7-0 halftime deficit and win their season opener.
Soledad went 60 yards on its first drive of the second half for its first touchdown. A three-yard run by Raul Chavez cut the deficit to 7-6. The extra point try was blocked.
Mario Barroso then put Soledad on top 14-7 on a two-yard run with about seven minutes to play. He flipped a pass to Ben Bryant for the two-point PAT.
Hillsdale reached the Soledad 40-yard-line late in the game. But led by linebacker Paul Guzman and defensive end Juan Gamboa, the Aztecs stopped the drive.
Justin Peverini had an interception for Soledad and Bryant had a fumble recovery.
Soledad is home to Templeton on Friday.
Carmel 49, Harbor 0
At Harbor, The Padres scored all their points in the first half in routing Harbor to square their non-league record at 1-1.
Carmel quarterback Patrick Johnston completed 12 of 19 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns.
n Scotts Valley 22, Stevenson 7: At Scotts Valley, The Pirates were held to just 54 yards of total offense in losing their season opener to the Falcons.
Stevenson’s only score came late in the game on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Jack Britton to Cory Schaeffer.
Palma 48, Alisal 9
Luke Lippincott rushed for 162 yards and three touchdowns on just 10 carries as the Palma High football team rolled to a 48-9 victory over Alisal at the Salinas Sports Complex on Friday.
Lippincott scored on runs of 30, 9 and 51 yards. Chieftains quarterback Chad Bozzo completed six of seven passes for 86 yards. Bozzo threw touchdowns of 26 and 10 yards, both to Tommy Marquez.
The Trojans had strong play from running back David Carriedo and quarterback Francisco Estrada. Â
When Palma’s Ryan Hastie topped a 12-play, 61-yard drive with a 4-yard TD run in the first quarter, Carriedo put Alisal in the end zone two plays after the kickoff on a 58-yard run to make it 7-6. Carriedo rushed for 115 yards on 13 carries.
Estrada was sharp, completing four of five passes in the first half and finishing six of 18 for 98 yards. The Trojans’ Vicente Rico kicked a 26-yard field as time expired in the half with Palma up 28-9.
Also scoring for Palma was Josh Rauber on an 8-yard run.
Gonzales 42, San Jose 0
John Ramirez ran for three touchdowns as the host Gonzales High football team disposed of San Jose High Academy on Friday at Dick Force Stadium.
Ramirez did half the scoring for the Spartans, who won for the first time under new head coach Jeff Patterson. The team doused Patterson with water moments before the game ended.
As Ramirez ran 33 yards for the first touchdown with 5:27 to play in the first quarter, Patterson was high stepping along the sidelines, cheering him on.
Gonzales added three more scores in the second quarter. Ramirez struck for 6 yards with 11:14 on the clock. About five minutes later, Paul Estrada caught a 19-yard pass. Then, Ramirez struck for a 48-yard touchdown with 24 seconds left in the half.
The third quarter belonged to Nelson Cisneros, who scored twice in the third quarter. His first touchdown was a 67-yard sprint up the middle after breaking two tackles. It was the first play from scrimmage in the quarter.
Five minutes later, Cisneros scored from 2 yards out. He finished with 149 yards rushing on 11 carries while Ramirez had 132 all-purpose yards.
—Glenn Cravens
Selma 21, Greenfield 8: The host Greenfield High football team lost the first game under new head coach Ron Militano. The Bruins opened the season under new lights.
Bears back Sherman Moon carried his team with 133 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Joel Tuosto scored the Bruins’ lone touchdown.
In the first quarter, the Bears took their opening possession 80 yards for a score capped by Moon’s 12-yard TD. Selma passed for the PAT.
Greenfield answered back with 0:45 left in the half on Tuosto’s 1-yard run. The Bruins’ Mark Raso ran in the two-point conversion to tie it 8-8 at intermission.
Selma regained the lead on a 38-yard run by Moon late in the third quarter. Moon’s encore was a 23-yard screen pass for a TD to finish off Greenfield.
— Mark Zeitz
The Gilroy Dispatch and the Salinas Californian have a working agreement to publish scores around the section in both publications.
