CASTROVILLE
– It all looked so familiar.
CASTROVILLE – It all looked so familiar.
Like it had for the last three games, the Gilroy defense forced a three-and-out on its opponent’s first possession.
Then, just like it had for those same three blowout wins, the Gilroy offense marched right down the field and gave the Mustangs an early 7-0 lead.
Same old, same old?
Not on this day. Not with their head coach 3000 miles away.
Looking sluggish and perhaps looking ahead, Gilroy held on for dear life during a 14-7 road victory against 1-4 North Monterey County Saturday.
“We were in kind of a discombobulated state,” offensive coordinator Tim Pierleoni said. “Definitely a little rusty.”
The Mustangs (4-0) were without coach Darren Yafai, who was en route to Tampa, Fla., for the funeral of his brother.
They also hadn’t played in two weeks, were playing a supposedly weak opponent and were admittedly thinking ahead to Friday’s Prune Bowl matchup with archrival Hollister.
“I think we were way overconfident,” said junior tight end/linebacker Taylor Micali. “But we stepped up when we had to.”
It didn’t come easy, though – especially for the offense.
In what turned out to be the team’s longest play of the day, junior tailback Justin Sweeney ran in a 28-yard touchdown on the Mustangs’ opening drive.
But the team’s second score didn’t come until the fourth quarter. While yards weren’t a problem – they outgaining NMC 215-52 in the first half alone – points were.
Four straight scoreless possessions all ended on the Condors’ side of the field – one after Neil Martin’s 45-yard field goal attempt and three others after failed fourth-down attempts.
“We definitely came out flat,” said senior quarterback Peter Mickartz, who was 7-of-13 passing for a season-low 76 yards. “We hadn’t played in a couple weeks and were just kind of out of it.”
The Condors even wore on Sweeney, who had more no gains and lost yardage plays than he’s had all season. The league’s leading rusher still ended up with 182 yards on 27 carries, but not easily.
“Every yard I got was tough,” he said. “Their defense was good … they hit me all game. I haven’t been hit that much all year.”
North County “wanted to take No. 1 out of the game,” Pierleoni said.
“I thought they had an excellent game plan and their defense played really well,” he added. “We didn’t have a lot of big plays because they did such a good job of tackling.”
Of course, the Gilroy defense was just as tough.
In fact, the first time North County played on the GHS side of the field was after Sweeney fumbled at his team’s 24-yard line midway through the third quarter.
Even then the Condors couldn’t convert.
After a last-second, third-down blitz by Gilroy safety Jared Kaczorowski, NMC was forced to attempt at 37-yard field goal. Mustang senior Shea Lemos got just enough finger on it, though, and the offense took over – and finally took control.
Mickartz completed a long pass to Jorden Newton, Z-back Louie Gutierrez churned out some key yards and Sweeney capped off an 11-play, 80-yard drive with a nine-yard touchdown run.
Six points added to the scoreboard. Six minutes taken off.
“We needed to put the game away right there,” Pierleoni said. “We were hoping that would be the backbreaker. .
“To their credit, though, they came right back.”
Indeed, the Condors responded by driving 56 yards to again pull within a touchdown with 6:25 remaining. It was more than two times longer than any other North County drive.
And after holding Gilroy to three-and-out, NMC had one last shot.
That shot was dashed, though, when Mustangs’ linebacker Joe Cano read a fourth-down screen pass perfectly and stopped the Condors two yards short of a first down.
“(Kano) jumped out in the flat and came up with a huge play,” GHS defensive coordinator Greg Garcia said.
“The coaches had been yelling at me the whole game to watch their screens,” Cano added. “That play had been working for them up until then.”
For the Mustangs, one more first-down would clinch it. And they converted it in the most unlikely of ways.
Just before a third-and-6 with just over a minute remaining, Pierleoni called a timeout and asked Mickartz if the NMC defensive ends had been keeping an eye on him.
They hadn’t.
So Pierleoni called for a bootleg, relying on the feet of a traditional drop-back passer.
“We had a good feeling about that one – there was no Plan B,” Pierleoni said. “That was an all-or-nothing play right there.”
The Condors bought it, Mickartz streaked down the field for 26 yards and the Mustangs ran out the clock.
And breathed a sigh of relief.
“I think this taught us a lesson not take anybody for granted,” Kaczorowski said. “We overlooked them.”
To be fair, it would’ve been hard not to look ahead.
The neighboring Haybalers, who beat the Mustangs by 30 last season, await in Friday’s TCAL opener.
“We couldn’t help but look ahead,” Kano said. “Everybody on this team wants to beat Hollister really bad.”
The close call in Castroville was merely “a speedbump,” Sweeney said.
“This,” he added, “is when the real season starts.”
