GILROY — Gilroy coach Brian Boyd said before the season that he didn’t care about the team’s record, just making the playoffs. With two weeks left in the season, nothing has changed.
The Mustangs were unable to get past the undefeated Everett Alvarez (8-0 overall, 5-0 in league), falling 64-26 during their homecoming celebration Friday at the Garcia-Elder Sports Complex. They may be down, but they’re certainly not out.
“We’ll be all right, we’re fine — a loss isn’t the end of our season,” Boyd said. “That was our plan — to be in the playoffs. I didn’t care about our win-loss record to begin with. We wanted to make the playoffs and we still think we will.”
The Mustangs were already reeling, trying to rebound from a 56-26 deficit at halftime when the stadium fell eerily silent.
With about seven minutes left in the third quarter, Gilroy’s worst nightmare came true. Standout running back Brandon Boyd was down and noticeably hurting, after picking up a big run that would be called back on a penalty. Brandon was said to have hurt his shoulder — the same one that ended his junior season after three games — but was able to walk off the field by his own accord.
But hope still remains for the senior, who was named homecoming king at halftime.
“She (the athletic trainer) said it feels really tight so we’ll probably brace it up and he’ll probably be ready to go next week,” Brian Boyd said. “He’ll do everything possible to be on the field. If he can be on the field, he’ll be on the field.”
Brandon finished the night with 11 carries for 99 yards in addition to a 95-yard kickoff return.
Gilroy was certainly a different team in the second half. After giving up 362 yards and eight touchdowns in the first half, the Mustangs defense regained its composure and gave up on 86 yards and one touchdown.
“(In the first half) we were trying to make adjustments on the fly and that put a bit of panic in us,” Briand Boyd said. “We thought we adjusted good in the locker room and for the most part we did.”
Offensively, Gilroy seemed be stunned after the loss of Brandon — that is until Emilio Chambers made his presence known. Chambers powered through the Eagles offense, fighting for every last inch he could get. He finished with six carries for 33 yards.
“Somebody needed to step up, so I did,” Chambers said. “We lost a really big part of our offense in the last half. He’s our best running back and somebody had said ‘Someone needs to step up’, so I decided to step up.”
Though sophomore quarterback David Munoz’s completion percentage may not show it — he was 6 for 19 for 100 yards — he was able to hit his targets when it mattered most.
Munoz threw three touchdowns, all to Riley Filice Hollar for 19, 15 and 46 yards to help keep the Mustangs offense alive.
The road to the Central Coast Section playoffs will not get any easier from here on out for Gilroy (5-3, 3-1). The Mustangs will take on Christopher (5-3, 2-2) at 7:30 p.m. next Friday in the battle for the Severence Bell.
“We definitely have to play hard — it’s our rival from crosstown,” Chambers said. “We want that bell (Severance Bell), it’s been gone for about two years. We really want that back, so we’re going to have to practice hard this whole next week and hope for the best.”
