Modesto College quarterback Chris Draper shredded the Gavilan
Rams defense for 416 yards and four touchdowns Saturday night as
the Pirates toppled the hosts 44-14 at Garcia-Elder Sports
Complex.
Two quick touchdowns in fourth quarter put game out of reach for Rams
n By Bob Burch Staff Writer
Gilroy – Modesto College quarterback Chris Draper shredded the Gavilan Rams defense for 416 yards and four touchdowns Saturday night as the Pirates toppled the hosts 44-14 at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
Coach John Lango’s Rams take a 1-1 pre-Coast Conference mark into a Saturday 1pm game in Ukiah against Mendocino College.
Modesto (1-1) piled up 587 yards in total offense and did not turn the ball over, although 90 yards in penalties stifled several drives.
“We tried to open up our offense,” said Modesto coach Ray Young. “We have a returning quarterback and two good backs, our Thunder and Lightning.”
Stephan Ortega, the 245-pound Thunder portion of the ground game for the Pirates, bulled to 34 yards in 14 carries. Marquell Colston, the Lightning part of the offense, sped to 75 yards and one touchdown.
“The Rams hit hard and gave us some problems,” added Young. “Any win on the road is pleasing. We still need to eliminate some mistakes, some penalties.”
Lango pointed to the fourth quarter as the key to the loss.
“We gave up two touchdowns in a short span (2:36) that really hurt us. We hustled and played well on defense at times. We have to go back and look at our defensive backfield to see how to make improvements.”
Colston ignited the Modesto offense by pulling in a 38-pass from Draper on the game’s first play. After three consecutive rushes by Ortega earned the Pirates a first down at the Ram 25, Draper’s seam-route pass to Colston produced a touchdown with 12:54 left in the first quarter.
Gavilan regrouped to make it 7-7 with 12:36 to play when Ellis Krout raced 91 yards to paydirt on the Pirate kick-off. The jaunt was the seventh-longest kick-off return in the 45-yard history over Gavilan football.
Neither team scored in the next six possessions before Modesto claimed a 9-7 lead. Ram punter Michael Blewett had his kick blocked through the end zone for a safety with 26 seconds left in the quarter as the Pirates took a lead they would not relinquish.
Pirate return specialist Tim Brown returned the ensuing punt 54 yards to the Ram 10-yard line. After a five-yard delay of game penalty, Modesto took a 16-7 lead with one second left in the quarter on a slant pass to from Draper to Marcus Allen.
Blewett had a 41-yard field goal blocked with 11:32 left in the half. Two series later, Modesto produced the lone score of the second quarter, a two-yard bootleg run by Draper with 18 seconds left. Modesto used 6:33 to cover 85 yards and earn six first downs leading up to Draper’s run to a 23-7 edge.
Both teams scored one touchdown in the closing 90 seconds of the third quarter.
The Pirates covered 82 yards and seven first downs to take a 30-7 lead with 1:30 left. Draper found wide-out Frankie Jimenez open for an 18-yard scoring strike.
Ram quarterback Nick Kalantari used a pump fake to set up a 43-yard pass to Krout to reach the Pirate 11. Facing a third-and-12, Kalantari passed to Jeremy Burns at the one and the flanker lunged into the end zone to complete the 13-yard play with one second left to make it 30-14.
After forcing a Modesto punt, Gavilan went 56 yards before a poor placement for a Blewett field goal try denied the Rams any points. The Pirates responded with two quick drives to scores, a 32-yard pass from Draper to Allen and 25-yard burst by Colston to earn the 30-point margin.
Gavilan starting quarterback Michael Incardona completed four of seven pass attempts for 40 yards. Kalantari was good for 127 yards on an 11-for-28 effort. Matt McCoy was the lone effective rusher for Gavilan with a 39-yard performance on six attempts.
