MORGAN HILL—A year after two running games went wild to open the season, Live Oak and Gilroy took a different tact, but the result was the same.
The Acorns rode four first half touchdown passes from quarterback Erik Ornduff to down the Mustangs 31-21 Friday night.
“It was a good way to come out and get a win. It was a hard fought victory and both teams battled the whole time,” said Live Oak Coach Mike Gemo.
Ornduff out dueled his counterpart, but did so with fewer yards. The junior quarterback completed 10 of 11 passing for 197 and four touchdowns, surviving two lost fumbles to lead Live Oak in the opening win.
Ornduff hit tightend Dante Spencer on three of those touchdowns for two yards, 10 yards and 29 yards during a four-score run to answer the Mustangs’ opening salvo.
Gilroy quarterback David Munoz was equally as impressive, throwing 17 of 28 for 220 and a touchdown.
Munoz drew first blood for Gilroy, hitting Jakob Method on a 77-yard screen pass on the third play from scrimmage for an early 7-0 lead.
Method had 191 yards in the first half and led Gilroy on an 80-yard drive to close the first half, going into the locker room down 28-14.
“I thought we were right there,” said Gilroy coach Brian Boyd. “We didn’t take advantage of some of the stuff underneath that was wide open. They say way back off of us and gave us stuff underneath and we didn’t take advantage of it.”
This was in contrast to last year when two elite running backs led the two teams to a combined 93 points.
But the game still featured a strong Live Oak running game.
Paul Lomanto exploded in the second half to tally 120 yards on 27 carries, with 86 yards on two catches and a touchdown.
The first half, Gilroy had Lomanto wrapped up, but in part because of Ornduff’s arm and wearing down Gilroy’s defense, he went for 85 yards in the second half.
“The second half, we had a double threat with passing and we could also run,” Lomanto said. “The run wasn’t really working in the first half but Erik just stepped up.”
Lomanto’s TD came in the second quarter when he caught a dump off pass from Ornduff that he took 78 yards for the TD. He had to shake one tackle inside the Gilroy 20, but he gave credit to Sorce for throwing down a block that sprung him.
Lomanto’s partner Jacob Ryder made his presence felt in his varsity debut, running for 36 yards on 12 carries.
“We had two healthy backs that we were able to keep their legs fresh,” Gemo said.
He also had a pair of touchdowns taken away by penalties. First he pulled down an interception he returned to the house, but had that negated on a holding penalty.
Ryder also returned a kickoff, but that was called back on a block in the back.
The game for the running and passing prowess shown, came down to mistakes.
Live Oak turned the ball over on its first two series of the second half, the second leading to a DeAngelo Kamber picking up a fumble and running it back more than 35 yards. It was his second score of the game. The first came at the end of the second quarter when he ran the ball in from three yards out.
“He was running the ball pretty good and those two touchdowns were pretty big,” Munoz said.
That cut Live Oak’s lead to seven at 28-21, but from there the Mustangs’ mistakes came back to haunt them.
“This was about turnovers. That’s what cost us the game; it really did,” Boyd said.
In the first half, Gilroy was penalized seven times in the first half for 65 yards and three more times in the second for 35 yards.
Those penalties kept drives alive for Live Oak and killed drives for Gilroy.
But turnovers for Gilroy proved to be the difference. Both teams scored seven points off turnovers, but Live Oak’s touchdown off a Mustang turnover proved to be the difference in the game.
The Acorns had just gone up 14-7 and kicked off to Gilroy. The ball bounced near the 10-yard-line of Gilroy and appeared to be heading out of bounds.
But the brand new turf field killed the bounce and the ball stayed in play. Chris Armstrong for Live Oak jumped on the ball, setting up Ornduff’s third TD pass of the game.
After Live Oak’s defense held on Gilroy’s ensuing series—denying the Mustangs from advancing past midfield—the Acorns went up by three scores and an insurmountable lead.
Gilroy’s seven points came on the second of two fumbles came when the defensive line forced Ornduff to scramble and led to a fumble for the second straight series.
The Mustangs’ first fumble recovery came up empty when Brandon Sorce picked off Munoz in the red zone.
Live Oak responded to Gilroy’s defensive touchdown with a 49-yard drive, capped with a Chase Vandenbrandhorninge kicking a 33-yard field goal.
Gilroy’s ensuing drive ended with Munoz throwing his second interception of the game when Cole Campi made a leaping catch on the 3-yard-line.
Though Live Oak’s ensuing drive stalled, the Acorns forced Gilroy into a turnover on downs and then ran out the clock.
The Acorns converted two fourth downs in side of four minutes to keep Gilroy’s offense off the field, including a fake punt where Sorce hit Spencer for the first down conversion.
“We just didn’t want to give them the ball back and we’ve been practicing that a little bit this week,” Gemo said. “We got lucky that they made a good throw and catch.”
Like Oak will now have to hit the road on Sept. 12, facing a Christopher team coming off a 12-6 win over Sobrato. Kickoff of that game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Gilroy will remain on the road next week, traveling to Sobrato for the Bulldogs’ home opener on their new field. Kickoff in that game is set for 1:45 p.m.
“We have to clean up some stuff and we have to be ready for next week,” Munoz said. “We can’t keep going like this. We have to be ready and pick it up.”
