A few more key plays and a few less penalties would have allowed
the Mustangs to slay a CCS giant at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex
Friday night.
Gilroy – A few more key plays and a few less penalties would have allowed the Mustangs to slay a CCS giant at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex Friday night.
Instead, the Oak Grove Eagles escaped Gilroy with a 27-21 win while the Mustangs were left with a moral victory, knowing they can hang with the best the section has to offer.
“You know what, that’s one of the funnest games I’ve ever been associated with,” GHS coach Rich Hammond said. “I’m proud of how hard our kids played. I think we learned a lot about ourselves. We learned a lot about what it takes to be a championship team, because (Oak Grove has) been in the title game for four years in a row.”
Trailing 14-6 going into halftime, Gilroy outscored and outplayed their opponents in the second half, but a four-minute span between the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth marred the Mustangs chances at taking advantage of stellar defensive play.
The Mustangs were called for three unsportsmanlike penalties for grabbing opponents’ facemasks, killing the momentum the team had built. Still, the team was able to stop the Eagles on a crucial fourth down to give the team one last chance to drive down the field.
Junior Sean Hale hauled in an eight-yard catch and then followed with a six yard run to move the chains. Receiver Danny Contreras then rushed for a first down on a sweep. After a two yard carry by running back Travis Reyes, Hale made an excellent catch while running to the right before bursting up the right sideline for a 30-yard gain. Hale had 12 yards rushing to go with five catches for 93 yards and a touchdown in the game.
Two incomplete passes, an eight yard run by Contreras and an illegal procedure penalty then forced the Mustangs into fourth and seven from the 37-yard line with two and a half minutes to play. The final offensive call was a deep ball to tight end Marshad Johnson who had his man beaten, but the ball sailed just two yards too long.
Oak Grove regained possession and was able to hand the ball off to the dynamic running duo of Nevin Gardiner and Stacy long to kill the clock. The only thing to slow Gardiner all night was an ankle injury in the third quarter, but he still helped close out the game, finishing with 27 carries for 202 yards and three touchdowns. Long’s first carry came after Gardiner came out gimpy, but the production did not drop off. He finished with seven carries for 80 yards and a touchdown, to go with four catches for 84 yards. Quarterback Regis Ward was 7-13 for 110 yards, with all of his incompletions coming in the second half.
Gilroy’s offense was equally effective, only through the air, as junior quarterback Jamie Jensen led Gilroy by completing 23 of 38 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns. An 11-yard touchdown completion to Reyes helped give Gilroy its only lead of the game at 21-20 with a minute and 13 seconds left in the third quarter. The first touchdown was caught after a beautiful post pattern by Dante Fullard in the final minutes of the first quarter.
On defense, top performers included linebacker Kevin Stewart and Ethan Ogle, who each had 12 tackles and a fumble recovery. Safeties Richie Sotelo and Ryan Costa had 10 and eight tackles, respectively, while cornerback Peter Guenther had an interception.
Despite the defeat, some players said plenty of positives could be taken away from the game.
“They were a lot more athletic … it was a big challenge,” Costa said. “Last year (against Oak Grove) it was 49-nothing so this year was a big improvement. It brings us together. People are going to start respecting us and it’s going to get us to start playing a lot harder as a team because last week we won 27-nothing – we lost today – but today was more of a team effort than last week.”
Hale agreed that people should start taking notice of Gilroy’s play.
“I think so,” he said. “If they don’t, they have another thing coming.”
