Senior receiver scores first touchdown, makes another key catch
in Mustang gridmen’s 14-6 victory over Live Oak
MORGAN HILL – Senior A.J. Rai waited and waited for his chance to prove that he could be an impact player for the Gilroy High football team – which held off winless Live Oak for a 14-6 victory in Friday night’s annual rivalry game.
“It’s good to come down with the win. It’s always good to win against a rival,” Rai said. “It’s good to finish strong. I’ll remember this one for a long time.”
With four Mustang starters deemed ineligible after grades came out, Rai slid into a starting spot and got his opportunity. The veteran receiver, recognized for his blocking more than big-play ability, made the two pivotal grabs of his career and of the game.
“We kept having to find ways to put him on the field because he’s by far and away our best blocker out of all our wide receivers,” head coach Darren Yafai said. “He’s been in the program for years. His brother played for us. He just kept working hard, kept working hard.”
On his first reception, Rai pulled down 23-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Ben Hemeon to give Gilroy a 7-0 lead with 1:11 left in the opening quarter.
“He’s a kid who’s always had a really good attitude. He’s fun to coach,” Yafai said about Rai. “He’s got a great character and then he comes up the biggest game of his senior year and makes two huge catches. We’re real proud of him.”
On his second key catch of 36 yards, Rai came back for a slightly underthrown ball – as the cornerback flew past – and gave Gilroy a first down at the Live Oak 14-yard line. Four plays later, sophomore tailback Justin Sweeney shedded a tackler on his way to a touchdown with 1:21 remaining.
“The play got broken up and our first receiver and secondary receiver were all covered, so I knew I had to come back for the ball,” said Rai, whose first grab of the night was his first touchdown of the season. “It was the best to come out with a touchdown.”
Sweeney rushed for a team-high 97 yards on 20 carries to lead the Mustang ground game, while junior Marty Sustaita ran for 34 yards on seven carries and senior Melvin Bryant finished with 21 yards.
By air, Hemeon had one of his most efficient days – throwing for 105 yards and a touchdown on 9-of-12 passing.
“It’s huge because we would have liked to maybe win a couple of games in league, but it just so happened that our league is so brutal. You’re going to see our league just start to demolish teams when they get into the playoffs,” Yafai said. “We could have hung our heads and thrown in the towel. Instead they came out with even more determination in practice this week, and our seniors took it upon themselves to say, ‘Hey, we want to go out with a win.'”
The season-finale win did not come without some scares, but the Mustang defense would not give an inch – stopping Live Oak on two drives deep in Gilroy territory.
“I’ve never felt anything better in my whole life,” senior defensive end Nick Mason said. “This is great. It doesn’t get any better than this. I have all my brothers with me. I know I can trust any of these guys with my life. That’s what it came down to on the goal line.”
The Mustangs were holding on to a slim 7-6 edge as the game was at a standstill late in the fourth quarter on a wet night – which saw only one brief downpour early on. The difference was a successful extra point by sophomore place-kicker Neil Martin for Gilroy and failed two-point attempt by Live Oak. But the Acorns marched down the field and were poised to take the lead with a first-and-goal from the 10-yard line.
Gilroy’s ‘D’ bared down and stopped Acorns’ quarterback Steven Connor on two consecutive runs. After a false start infraction forced Live Oak into a third-and-goal from the 15-yard line, Connors hit receiver Adam Reza for a 12-yard reception. With Acorns’ head coach Glen Webb trying to end the school’s two-plus season winless streak, Live Oak sent out Miguel Ayala to attempt a 20-yard field goal for the lead. From a sharp angle by the left hash, Ayala was short and wide right.
On the ensuing possession, the Mustangs drove 80 yards for their second touchdown on Sweeney’s one-yard run to make it 14-6. But the Acorns had one more shot with 1:21 left to go for the tie, needing a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
Connor guided the Live Oak offense back to another first-and-goal from the seven-yard line on a 42-yard pass to receiver Cody Welch. On first down, tailback Daniel Salinas was cut for a three-yard loss by senior defensive end Korey Gray. On second, Connor threw an incomplete pass. Then Connor, who already made a 22-yard reception as a receiver, was split out wide and Jonathan Redmond stepped behind center.
After an incomplete pass on a lob to Connor in the end zone on third down, Redmond fired a pass incomplete toward tight end Jeff Schroeder. But a pass interference call on the Gilroy defense gave the Acorns one last chance from the five-yard line. Returning to quarterback Connor bought some time and completed a pass to teammate Sumpter Alton – who was tackled one-yard shy of the end zone to end the game.
“Three years, no victory. I was saying, ‘Let’s keep that streak alive,'” said Mason before throwing some praise out to his neighboring rivals. “We were saying this whole week that they are the most talented no-win team that we haven’t seen. It’s (playing in) this league. That’ll do that to any team.”
Both Gilroy (which finished 4-5-1 overall due to its forfeit of a 30-6 victory against SLV) and Live Oak (0-9-1) came into the final regular-season game with 0-4 records in T-CAL, losing to playoff-bound Palma, Hollister, Salinas and North Salinas.
“We knew it was going to be close. … They’ve been battling and playing teams tough all year, and it’s unfortunate that they didn’t finish with a win because they are a pretty good football team,” Yafai said. “That Connors kid is one of the best athletes in the area. He’s a great football player.”
MELENDEZ REDEEMED: Senior linebacker Danny Melendez was allowed to play in the final game of his scholastic football career, after the league commissioner overturned a mandatory one-game suspension for getting ejected. In last week’s loss to North Salinas, Melendez was involved in an altercation on the opposing team’s sideline. One official said he saw Melendez throw a punch automatically ejecting him from the game and forcing him to sit out the next.
“We went and reviewed the tape the next morning. He made a tackle out of bounds. It was a late hit. We looked it was close, but yeah we understand the flag,” Yafai said. “He got up started to walk back to our huddle. Their kid tossed the ball down, turned and shoved Danny in the back. Danny turned and just kinda confronted him and the kids were in each other’s face a little bit. Three of their kids rushed Danny and started shoving him down the sideline.”
Scott Martin, a Gilroy High School graduate and former Mustang place-kicker who attends San Jose State University, was filming the game and zoomed in to the melee of players.
“You could see Danny on the defensive stumbling backwards… He was being attacked by three kids and so he was just pushing off as he was getting shoved backwards to get himself out of there,” Yafai said. “The league commissioner came and reviewed the film and said, ‘That’s not a punch’ and overturned the suspension.”
Melendez, a bruising linebacker, alsostarted at fullback for the first time this season and rushed for 10 yards on two carries.
“It was a nice ending for kid who’s been a four-year football player. He’s had a good senior year and has improved all the time. We were happy that he got to play this game,” Yafai said. “It was huge because then our fullback is ineligible so he has to play fullback three quarters of the game and the whole game on defense. And he’s on every special team.”
FUTURE CLEATS: The Gilroy High junior varsity team won a 12-9 decision over Live Oak to finish the season with a 9-1 record, while the freshmen squad was shut out, 6-0.
