GILROY—Three Gavilan College running backs erupted for more than 100 yards apiece Saturday night to key a convincing 44-21 Gold Coast League victory over Cabrillo at Christopher High School.
Coach Mike Dovenberg earned his first win as a head coach by seeing the Rams take advantage of five Cabrillo turnovers and strike for two touchdown passes.
“We had a two great weeks of practice,” Dovenberg said. “We knew Cabrillo’s a solid team and this has been a rivalry game for years. Our offense was effective making blocks all night. It’s tough playing running back in college so it was important to get several backs going for us.’
Anthony Brooks paced the Ram running game with 123 yards on 15 carries. Adam Martinez Garza broke loose for 112 yards on 11 carries. Devin Carpenter came up with 101 yards on 14 assignments.
Gavilan rallied to take a 16-14 halftime lead, highlighted by two touchdowns by Luke Morin to Jarijah Harrison.
“Both passes to Jarijah were fade routes,” Morin, making his first start of the season, explained. “He has the size and the speed to make that effective. Jarijah’s also an exceptional blocker.”
Cabrillo claimed its only lead of the game when quarterback Brenden Davis lined a slant pass to Rishad Goode for 12 yards and a touchdown with 10:22 left in the first quarter,
Linebacker John Barrera ignited the Gavilan response when he pulled down an attempted screen pass by Davis and moved the interception inside the Cabrillo 12–yard line. Harrison scored the touchdown two plays later by darting past the cornerback into the endzone.
Justin Keathley-Deras made a 23-yard field goal 2:50 into the second quarter. Harrison’s second six-pointer of the game left Gavilan up 16-7 with 8:31 left in the half. Cabrillo covered 50 yards in five plays late in the half, Davis drilling a 23-yard TD pass to Goode with 37.3 seconds to go.
The third quarter was limited to one score, a 48-yard ramble around left end by Martinez Garza for a 23-14 cushion with 42.6 seconds left.
The fourth quarter produced four touchdowns, including three six-pointers from the inspired Ram offense.
Cabrlllo had one final push in the closing quarter, Quinn McElfish turning a 22-yard slant pass by Davis until a Cabrillo 23-21 deficit with 11:09 to play.
The Rams came back with three touchdowns to close out the game. Gavilan showed the effectiveness of a 12-play drive with Carpenter racing around the left end for the 30-21 nod with 5:51 left. When Cabrillo punted after three plays, Brooks responded with a 53-yard run and a 36-yard romp up the middle to make it 37-21 with 3:22 to go.
When Cabrillo lost the ball on the kickoff, Eliziah Crosse completed the scoring with a 13-yard TD run with 55 seconds to go.
Gavilan continues conference play at 6 p.m. Saturday against Merced.
