Gilroy took advantage of two plays—a 90 yard pass and a 23 yard run—to take an early control and get its fourth league-win beating Monterey 42-9 and make a little history.
Sitting at 6-3 overall, Gilroy has clinched its first winning season in eight years.
“This is a huge win, not only for our team, but for the school and the community,” Gilroy coach Jubenal Rodriguez said. “It’s proof that Gilroy football is back.”
The last time Gilroy went above .500, was in 2008 when the Mustangs finished 9-2 overall. Since then, the closest Gilroy came was in 2013 when the Mustangs went 5-5 overall.
The Mustang defense set the tone early in the game. They forced a field goal on the Toreadores’ first possession, they had an interception near their own 5-yard line early in the second quarter and recovered a fumble by Monterey’s quarterback Evans Charles on Monterey’s 44-yard line and another by running back Daisuke Ramirez on Monterey’s 42-yard line along with forcing a turnover on downs inside their 25-yard line.
The only touchdown they allowed was near the end of the game when Charles connected with Christian Hampton for a 45-yard play. Monterey attempted a two-point conversion, but the defense prevented that too.
The Mustangs allowed 111 yards on the ground while limiting Monterey to 124 yards on the air.
The offense was quick to make Monterey pay for their mistakes.
After stopping Monterey on a fourth-and-2 on Monterey’s 23-yard line, Joseph Barnes took the handoff and ran through the middle while the Toreadores’ defense was looking at Jon Castro rolling out as if looking for a receiver up the field. By the time the defense noticed who had the ball, Barnes was 10 yards away from the end zone with no one in front of him. Gilroy grew the lead to 14-3.
After recovering Charles’ fumble, it took the Mustangs three plays to find the end zone. Castro found Barnes near the 30-yard line wide open and then relied on some blocking and his speed to outrun the defense for his second touchdown.
“We planned for this all week,” said Barnes. “We were ready mentally and physically.”
Barnes put the cherry on the cake on his night when he broke three tackles on his 60 yard run for the last Mustang touchdown.
Barnes lead the team with 3 touchdowns and rushed for 99 yards.
Despite the score, Gilroy’s offense was not on the field near as much as the defense was. The Mustangs’ longest drive came right after halftime. They began with the ball on their own 20-yard line and 17 plays later they scored their fifth touchdown on Castro’s 3-yard run.
“They (defense) were tired out there. We scored so fast. It’s very rare but that’s just the way it worked out,” coach Rodriguez said.
Castro had three touchdowns; two passing and one rushing. He only threw the ball seven times completing three for 102 yards.
“The sky is the limit for this season,” coach Rodriguez said. “Coaches were driving the train earlier in the summer, but now the boys are taking over. They just have to continue steering the right way.”
Gilroy will seek to keep the train on track when they host North Monterey next Friday on their final regular season game.
