Gavilan’s hopes of repeating as Coast Conference football
champion evaporated into the Aptos night Saturday
Aptos – Gavilan’s hopes of repeating as Coast Conference football champion evaporated into the Aptos night Saturday in a 16-14 loss to the host Cabrillo Seahawks.
Instead, the Rams (5-4) find themselves in a precarious position to reach postseason play at all. A loss in its last regular season game against San Jose City this Saturday night in Gilroy would cancel any bowl plans for Gavilan. A win would give the Rams winning pre-conference and Coast Conference records – to go with a defense likely to be rated first in the state – to tantalize bowl organizers.
Coach John Lango was in familiar territory Saturday, his team derailed by costly turnovers for the third time in four losses.
“Too many turnovers once again,” Lango said about this team’s second consecutive conference setback. “We made a lot of mistakes that shouldn’t have been made.”
Gavilan was burned by three interceptions and two lost fumbles. Cabrillo was nearly as inept at handling the ball, fumbling once and giving up three interceptions – all three picks by Rams safety Cameron Shutts.
The anticipated duel on the ground between Cabrillo’s Loren Jensen and Gavilan’s El Ray Henry, the conference’s top two rushers, played out as expected. Jensen was the workhorse for Cabrillo, pounding to 108 yards in 34 carries, but none over nine yards and just three exceeding six yards. Henry, the Rams’ bruising halfback, racked up 119 yards on 25 carries, including four for at least 10 yards. Henry has 1,940 career yards at Gavilan, and needs 83 yards against San Jose City to move past Tee McIntosh into second place in the school’s recordbook.
“The most important thing for us was to execute our offense, make things happen and get rid of the penalties,” said Cabrillo head coach Steve Cox. “We had 19 penalties last week. This was as complete a game as we can get. I can’t say enough for (Gavilan). They played a heck of a ballgame. They played hard. There’s a reason they are the No. 1 defense in the state.”
Cabrillo finished with a 324-321 edge in total offense. The final 30 yards were the most crucial, representing a Seahawks drive to the Gavilan 16 to set up a 33-yard field goal by Kyle Milburn that wiped out a 14-13 Gavilan lead with 1:32 left in the game.
The Seahawks scored only once in five possessions in a briskly played first half, taking a 7-0 lead to the lockerroom.
Cabrillo’s first foray into Ram territory was halted just 2:14 after the opening whistle when Shutts jumped over Seahawks wideout Brian Davilla to snare the interception at the Ram one yard line.
The host’s second possession resulted in seven points, with the 17-play drive kept alive by a roughing the punter call on Gavilan. Jensen added to his conference lead with his 12th touchdown of the year, a four-yard run off right guard with 14:22 left in the half.
Gavilan penetrated to the Cabrillo 12 late in the half on a 24-yard pass from quarterback Will Kilday to Adam Bearden. But on his very next pass Kilday was intercepted by Garrett LaTorre, who returned the snare to the Cabrillo 32.
Kilday fired a perfect strike to a streaking Shane Butcher for 29 yards to the Seahawk 27 on the third play of the second half. But when the Rams starter fumbled the snap and saw it recovered by Cabrillo’s Warren Edwards, Kilday’s night was over. He finished with 83 yards on a 6-for-8 night.
Reserve quarterback Rhett Van De Mark went 7-for-12 for 79 yards and a touchdown, adding a 46-yard bootleg dash. Van De Mark guided a 12-play drive that culminated in a tying touchdown on the next series. On the drive, A 27-yard lob hauled in by Guy Blightman in the endzone was waived off by a holding call, but two 14-yard bolts from Henry set up a three-yard blast by part-time fullback Roy Sims for the score with 1:40 left in the third quarter.
Shutts’ third pick of the night, a dive to snare a tipped pass, led to a go-ahead Ram touchdown.
Van De Mark’s breakaway bootleg on the first play of that scoring drive brought the Rams 46 yards to the Cabrillo 18. A couple plays later, the backup QB tossed a two-yard touchdown pass to tight end Steven Conner on a play-action call that left Gavilan sitting pretty with 13:23 left in the game.
However, the Hawks were able to score on two of their final three possessions to dash the Rams’ hopes of another league title. Two gimmick plays and a third bit of misdirection were vital to a 73-yard touchdown drive in seven plays that brought Cabrillo within a point with 10:11 left.
Andre Avilla successfully ran a fake punt for 28 yards from the Cabrillo 28 on fourth-and-two. Jensen executed a pitch-pass play to Nick Alverez for 23 yards to the Ram 14. Two plays later, quarterback Andrew Wick ran the bootleg for the final 10 yards to make it 14-13. Gavilan’s vaunted defense came through yet again, as Tyrone Monroe stormed through the protection to block Milburn’s point-after try to leave the Rams up by a point.
“On that second touchdown, Cabrillo used a fake punt, a toss pass and a boot, three trick plays to get us,” said Lango.
“We needed to slow their defense down a little with the halfback pass, reverses and others,” sad Cox. “They come up to stop the run so well that we needed to do some things to slow them down.”
The Rams defense stopped the next Cabrillo series after just one first down, but had too take the field again quickly when a fumble on the first play of Gavilan’s ensuing possession left Cabrillo in business at the Gavilan 46 with 3:22 left. Wick, who went 12-for-22 for 140 yards on the night, connected for two passes, and a 15-yard pass interference call moved the Seahawks into field goal range. Cue Milburn, and the Rams were left with an uphill battle and needing a bit of luck to get a bowl bid.
