SALINAS VALLEY — In high school football last week, King City played a great second half and Gonzales got hot at the right time, as the Mustangs and Spartans won their games against Soledad and Rancho San Juan, respectively.
In their Mission Division openers, the Soledad Aztecs lost to King City, while the Greenfield Bruins were beaten by visiting Robert Louis Stevenson.
KING CITY AND SOLEDAD
At Gene Martin Stadium on Friday, the visiting King City Mustangs outscored the host Soledad Aztecs 21-0 in the second half to spoil Homecoming with a final 28-6 win.
Soledad miscues in the second half created scoring opportunities for the Mustangs.
“We couldn’t get things going to start the game,” said King City head coach Mac Villanueva. “Penalties hurt us from running our offense.”
King City scored the first points of the game with 58.6 remaining in the first quarter as quarterback Rocky Vasquez threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Alexander Macias. Place kicker Johell Carrillo added the point-after attempt for a 7-0 Mustang lead.
After making a defensive stand, the Mustangs received the ball deep in their own territory. King City turned the ball over on a fumble and Soledad had the ball inside the Mustang 10-yard line.
On second down and short, Gio Gallegos scored to cut the deficit to 7-6 as the Aztecs missed the PAT. With just minutes left in the first half, Soledad quarterback DJ Valenzuela threw deep down field to receiver Ayden Raso, who made a catch for a touchdown. The play was called back after the Aztecs were flagged for holding.
“At halftime, we told our players that they have to come out and play better football,” Villanueva said. “We just needed to make some solid plays to start the second half.”
King City freshman return man RJ Ayon must have been listening to his head coach as he saw the middle of the field open up and ran for an 88-yard kickoff return to give his team a 13-6 lead. Carrillo added the PAT and the visitors led 14-6.
The Soledad offense and defense suffered a loss to start the half, as quarterback Valenzuela had an ankle injury and could not return as signal caller or at safety. Christian Gonzales replaced Valenzuela at quarterback.
The score remained the same until the fourth quarter, when Carson Tidwell had a 26-yard touchdown. The third PAT by Carrillo pushed the lead to 21-6.
The Mustangs capitalized on a Soledad miscue as the Aztecs were backed up on a punt. A bad snap and the punter ran with the ball instead of trying to kick the ball. King City’s Roberto Mandujano made the tackle on the Soledad one-yard line.
Rocky Villanueva was inserted at fullback and powered his way for the short yardage touchdown. Carrillo then completed the scoring with his fourth PAT for the final 28-6 tally.
“The players came out and played well in the second half,” Coach Villanueva said. “RJ Ayon’s touchdown got us fired up and we had practiced making room for him to run. We were able to come up with defensive plays, including two fumble recoveries by Benjamin Bolanos and Rocky Villanueva. This win meant a lot to us, although there are still many tough games coming up.”
Soledad head coach Eric Rodriguez must now prepare his team for its next game with Greenfield.
“Turnovers and fumbles and then losing our quarterback were tough, but that’s football,” Rodriguez said. “It is a must win for us on Friday.”
King City finished the game with 146 rushing yards and 79 passing yards. Tidwell had 20 carries for 144 yards and scored a touchdown. Rocky Vasquez was 7 of 15 passing and threw one touchdown.
Macias led the Mustangs with three receptions for 39 yards and a touchdown, and Cody Lambert added two receptions for 28 yards. Carrillo had one catch for six yards, and JC Navarro had one reception for six yards.
This Friday King City will travel to Salinas to play the Everett Alvarez Eagles (5-1). Last Friday the Eagles defeated Pacific Grove, 24-7.
“Alvarez has a lot of athletes and good numbers,” said Coach Villanueva. “They are physical and have some size. We are a physical team too so it will be a good football game.”
GONZALES AND GREENFIELD
In Salinas last Friday night, the visiting Gonzales Spartans outscored the Rancho San Juan Trailblazers 44-0 in the second half to win the Santa Lucia Division opener by a final 44-8 score.
Gonzales is 1-1 in the division and 1-5 overall.
The Trailblazers took an 8-0 lead at the end of the first quarter with a three-yard touchdown run by Elias Leao and a two-point conversion run by Leao.
Neither team was able to mount an offensive drive the rest of the first half and the half ended with Rancho San Juan maintaining the lead.
On their first possession of the second half, Gonzales quarterback Jordan Askew threw a touchdown pass to Josiah Guerrero. The score ignited the Spartans as they lit up the scoreboard from then on.
Guerrero added a touchdown on defense with a pick-six, and Jorge Uribe came up with a pick-six of his own and another on a pass from Askew.
Jaden Uribe led Gonzales with 55 rushing yards, and Aaron Hernandez ran for 50 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns. Jorge Uribe added points as a place kicker, and the Spartans also scored on a safety.
Defensive standouts for Gonzales were Joshua Mariscal at defensive end, Hernandez at safety and Gabriel Prieto at linebacker.
“It was great to get the win for all the football program, especially the players who have kept working hard,” said Gonzales head coach Eddy Ramirez. “This week we will work to be ready to play Pajaro Valley on Friday for Senior Night.”
The Greenfield Bruins (0-6) lost 36-6 at home last Friday to the undefeated Robert Louis Stevenson Pirates.
Travis Ryan led the Bruin offense with 102-yards rushing. Defensively for Greenfield, Angel Hernandez led the team with eight tackles and Nisael Gonzales added six tackles and came up with two sacks.
Next, Greenfield will host Soledad this Friday night.
