SALINAS VALLEY — The Greenfield Bruins lead the Santa Lucia Division with a 2-0 record after a 33-0 shutout win against visiting Gonzales last Friday night.
Greenfield improved to 3-1 overall, and Gonzales is now 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the Santa Lucia Division.
The Bruins went to the air to start the game and scored two first-quarter touchdowns with passes from the quarterback duo of Angel Gonzales and Kenny Pajas.
In the first score of the game, Angel Gonzales threw an 18-yard touchdown to Paul Figueroa, then Pajas went in and threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Nava.
“We noticed that Gonzales likes to play a lot of man-on-man defense since the passing league,” said Greenfield head coach Adam Barcenas. “We liked our chances throwing the ball and it worked out with the early first-half scores.”
The score was just 12-0 until the third quarter when Angel Gonzales scored a five-yard touchdown run and Anthony Zuniga added the PAT for a 19-0 Bruin advantage. The Bruins defense held the Spartans to low yardage and were led on the field by cornerback Carlos Valdez, who finished the game with 11 tackles, two forced fumbles and one tackle for a loss.
Gonzales was playing without their starting quarterback or starting running backs and had trouble moving the football. The Bruin scores came after Greenfield took possession on a short field.
“We only had 63 yards rushing, but I was glad we had 150 yards passing from our quarterbacks and did not throw an interception,” Barcenas said. “I know Gonzales was short players today and that’s what kept them from running their offense and moving the ball. This week we play at undefeated Harbor on Friday and we know they like to throw the ball.”
Damian Martinez led Greenfield with 40 yards on 11 carries rushing the football and Pajas had three receptions for 50 yards.
Gonzales was led by Jordan Askew and Nelson Cisneros on defense. The Spartans were missing 12 players because of injuries and illness.
SOLEDAD
The Soledad Aztecs snapped a four-game losing streak with last Friday’s 21-14 win over the host Watsonville Wildcatz.
Soledad took the first lead of the game at 7-0 with a 98-yard kickoff return by Aaron Dominguez and successful PAT. In the second quarter, the Wildcatz knotted the score at 7-7 on a 77-yard touchdown pass play from quarterback Mark Flores to Christopher Sigala.
The Aztecs took a two-score lead in the third quarter with a short run for a touchdown by Dominguez and PAT, and a touchdown run by Daniel Garcia and PAT built the score to 21-14.
The Wildcatz made the game interesting by scoring on the kickoff after the Aztec score as Flores ran the ball in from 85 yards out. Soledad held on to capture the road win.
Daniel Garcia had 73 yards passing and 24 rushing yards. Aaron Dominguez had 11 carries for 58 yards and had the 75-yard touchdown. Aiden Raso had five receptions for 48 yards, and Pedro Morales had two receptions for 25 yards.
The Aztecs will open Mission South divisional play this Friday at War Memorial Stadium against the 5-0 King City Mustangs.
