GILROY—Gavilan coach Spencer Gilford warned that West Hills was the top team in the newly-christened Golden Coast League. West Hills showed that warning to be the truth Saturday night as the Falcons powered past the Rams 52-10 at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
“Give (West Hills) a lot of credit,” Gilford said after the game. “They are a good football team, the best we will play all year.”
Gavilan trailed 7-3 after one quarter before giving up 24 unanswered points in the second. The Falcons added one touchdown in the third quarter and two in the fourth.
“This conference has very good competition and outstanding coaching,” said West Hills first-year head coach Robert Tucker. “We were fortunate to have talent, depth and experience at every position.”
The Rams put up 358 yards of total offense, including 110 yards passing in the first half by starting quarterback Drew Fryhoff. A lower body injury on the final play of the first half left Fryhoff on the sideline with crutches. Sterling Montgomery quarterbacked the second half, covering 152 yards in a 10 of 19 effort for one touchdown and one interception.
“Sterling was put in a tough situation against the best defense we will face all season and showed a lot of poise,” said Gilford.
Deniko Carter paced the Gavilan receivers with six catches for 85 yards and one touchdown. Armani Miller, out last week with an injury, returned to make five catches for 93 yards.
“Gavilan has the most athletic group of receivers we will face this year,” Tucker said.
The bye week will enable to Rams to regroup and to allow some of the injured players to return to the field against the Seahawks.
“We have a lot of injuries, so we look to the back-ups to step up for us,” Gilford added.
Tucker noted his gameplan was to stop the run. Gavilan did receive 66 yards on 13 carries from Anthony Brooks.
Tucker lauded the work of sophomore quarterback Freddy Taliulu of the Falcons, owner of 247 passing yards and two touchdowns. “Freddy makes really good decisions and is very accurate.”
Taliulu threaded a nine-yard pass in the right flat for a touchdown to Tyron Jones at the end of a game opening eight-play march covering 75 yards. The Rams countered with their only points in the first half when Pat McQueen drilled a 47-yard field goal with 3:20 left in the first quarter.
The Falcons broke the game open with two touchdowns in a 61-second span of the second quarter. Taliulu’s 14-yard screen pass to Donnevan Ito made it 21-3. Three plays later Fryhoff lost the ball on a sack and Roger Craig rambled 11 yards for the 28-3 cushion.
After West Hills claimed a 52-3 led with 9:10 left in the fourth quarter, Gavilan covered 85 yards on three plays for a touchdown. Miller broke loose for a 44-yard pass play to the Falcons’ 41. Two plays later, Carter took a screen pass and raced around the defense to a 36-yard TD.
Gilford credited strong play at linebacker from Ram sophomore Dillon Babb. The Christopher High graduate “has consistently played well for us, giving our defense a chance to do well.”
The Rams, 0-2 in league and 2-3 overall, have a bye before playing in two weeks at Cabrillo.
