GILROY — There seems to be no stopping the Gilroy offense.
For the second week in a row the Mustangs were an offensive juggernaut, topping Watsonville 55-14 Friday at home for their first victory in Monterey Bay Pacific League play.
Gilroy (3-2 overall, 1-0 in league) brought a balanced offensive attack, led by sophomore quarterback David Munoz in the air and standout running back Brandon Boyd on the ground. Munoz put up his best numbers of the season, finishing 15 for 22 for 198 yards with four touchdowns and an interception.
Boyd once again broke the 300-yard mark, picking up 315 yards on 30 carries while scoring three touchdowns for the Mustangs from the 14, 44 and 11-yard lines. Boyd now has 1,519 yards through five weeks of play and the Mustangs’ offense has combined for 125 yards in its last two contests.
“It feels good to get over the hump — three wins, that’s a record for me,” coach Brian Boyd said. “It’s our first league win and that’s nice to carry into next week, our bye week. … I thought David Munoz had a phenomenal night. It was his best night — it doesn’t matter about his yards because he was on target.”
Watsonville’s offense on the other hand, took a huge blow just before halftime, losing starting quarterback Nick Carrillo to what’s believed to be a broken collarbone. Carrillo was 1 for 4 for 42 yards in limited play. He also had three carries for five yards.
Replacing Carillo was Wildcatz backup QB Marvin Scott, who completed a 68-yard catch and run touchdown to junior Oscar Gonzales with 52 seconds left in the third quarter. The score cut the Mustangs lead to 33-14 at that point.
“Losing the quarterback, that hurt us,” Wildcatz coach John Montante said. “The kids stayed strong — (No.) 24 (Brandon Boyd) is a good back. We’re going to be OK this year.”
The Mustangs were the first to draw blood with Brandon Boyd scoring but the team missing the extra point. The Wildcatz answered on their next possession with a 7-yard run from Alex Azevedo. Watsonville also missed its PAT, tying the game at 6-6.
But that’s as close the Wildcatz would get to Gilroy, as Munoz would go on to hit Jose Salazar for back-to-back-to-back touchdowns for 12, 8 and 35 yards to put Gilroy ahead 21-6 at the half. Salazar finished with six catches for 153 yards and three touchdowns in the game.
“I’m feeling pretty good. I couldn’t do it without my team,” Salazar said. “If it wasn’t for David (Munoz) throwing the ball, I wouldn’t have gotten all of that. I feel like I did pretty good. I stayed on my blocks and just hustled down the field.”
The Wildcatz were held to just 240 yards of total offense by the young Gilroy defense that continues its stellar play. Noe Garcia’s name was heard over and over again, picking up several tackles for his team.
The Gilroy D was disappointed it didn’t get the shutout it was looking for, but Garcia said that only fuels them to try harder next time.
“We were looking for the shutout — that’s what we’re looking for every week, that’s our goal. We set goals that we can meet,” Garcia said. “It’s good (to win), but we’re going to take it day-by-day — it’s just the start. We have a whole other half of the season to finish.”
Gilroy will be on a bye this week and be back in action at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 18 at Pajaro Valley.
“We’re going to give their bodies a rest this week — we’re going to be half shells three days,” Brian Boyd said. “We’re going to run ‘em and keep them in shape and go over some small drills. We’ll let their bodies recoup and then go back at it and start a new week Monday for Pajaro.”
The Wildcatz (2-3 overall, 0-1 in league) will be back on the field at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11 to host North Monterey County. Montante said the team’s biggest concern right now is getting Scott up to speed and ready to lead the Wildcatz offense.
“We’ve got to get our backup quarterback up to speed in a hurry,” the Watsonville coach said. “Your backup quarterbacks always have a smaller package. We’ll just keep working on him, fundamentals and all that. He’ll be alright.”
