SALINAS VALLEY — For the first time ever, three South Monterey County high school football teams have qualified for the Central Coast Section playoffs.
Greenfield qualified as the co-champion of the Santa Lucia Division; Soledad received an automatic bid for placing second in the Mission South; and King City qualified as the unbeaten Mission South Division champion.
GREENFIELD
The Greenfield Bruins are the co-champions of the Santa Lucia Division as they completed the regular season with a 29-14 win over the host Rancho San Juan Trailblazers last Friday night in Salinas.
Greenfield had 306 total yards in the game with 166 rushing yards and 140 passing yards. Damian Martinez led the Bruin running game with 107 yards on 31 carries and had three touchdowns. Quarterback Angel Gonzalez had a nine of 16 passing performance and threw one touchdown pass. Julio Cisneros led seven Bruin receivers with two receptions for 37 yards, while Paul Figueroa had one reception for a 19-yard touchdown.
The Trailblazers led 7-0 in the first quarter but Martinez scored his first touchdown on a one-yard romp. A failed PAT left the score at 7-6.
In the second quarter, Rancho San Juan scored on a three-yard run by Elias Leon and a PAT to lead 14-6. The Bruins cut the lead to 14-9 on a field goal of 25-yards by Anthony Zuniga. To end the half.
The second half belonged to Greenfield as the defense did not allow another point and Martinez scored twice on short runs and Figueroa scored on the pass from Gonzales to complete the scoring.
Greenfield ended the Santa Lucia schedule with a 6-1 record and were 8-2 overall. Marina finished the season at 6-1 for the co-championship and received the second seed in the Division VI playoffs.
The Bruins were seeded No. 1 in the four-team division and will host No. 4 seed Homestead on Friday in Greenfield. Marina will host Independence on Friday. The finals date and location will be determined after Friday’s contests.
SOLEDAD
Last Friday at Gene Martin Stadium in Soledad, the Aztecs won the game 22-20 over the visiting Everett Alvarez Eagles with a 27-yard field goal by placekicker Luis Negrete with just five seconds left on the clock.
The teams entered the contest needing a win to earn a playoff spot and a win the following day over Robert Louis Stevenson. If the Pirates had upset the King City Mustangs, they would have earned the playoff berth.
The score was just 7-6 at halftime as Soledad took the lead with a touchdown by Julian Velasquez. Soledad had the extra point blocked to take a 6-0 advantage. Alvarez took the lead at 7-6 with a touchdown and a PAT.
In the third quarter, Soledad scored on a 18-yard run by quarterback Daniel Garcia and a PAT by Negrete to regain the lead at 13-7. The Aztecs took the lead toward the end of the third with a 10-yard touchdown run by Garcia and led 19-7 after a missed PAT.
In the fourth quarter, Alvarez scored two rushing touchdowns to help the Eagles take a 20-19 lead with 4:30 left to play. Soledad reached the Alvarez five-yard line but were flagged on consecutive penalties. The coaching staff then let the time run down and sent Negrete to attempt the winning field goal. Alvarez called a timeout to ice Negrete, but the junior did not flinch and reentered the field and kicked the game winner.
“I’ve been waiting for a time like this all season, as I had confidence I could make an important kick,” Negrete said. “As time ran out, I just wanted to celebrate with my teammates.”
Soledad coach Eric Rodriguez knew that the junior kicker had the ability and mind set to make the important field goal that would send the Aztecs to the playoffs.
“Luis is a soccer player and has shown us he can make important kicks,” Rodriguez said. “We let the lead get away from us late in the game but had the ability to move the ball and give our kicker a chance.”
The Aztecs finished at 3-2 in the Mission South and were 4-6 overall. Soledad earned the eighth seed in the CCS Division V playoffs and will travel to Redwood City on Friday to play the No. 1 seeded Sequoia Ravens.
“They (Ravens) are about our size physically with a good quarterback and can run the ball too,” Rodriguez said. “We are expecting Sequoia to be a tough first-round opponent.”
KING CITY
The King City Mustangs set a school record for finishing the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record. King City earned the title as they led the division with a 5-0 mark but received a battle in Saturday’s road game at Robert Louis Stevenson, as they had to mount a second half comeback to claim the 28-21 win. Defensive back JC Navarro closed out the Pirates with an interception in the end zone.
“All the extra distractions that we had to deal with before and during the game had us out of our regular routine,” said King City head coach Mac Villanueva. “That included playing a Saturday day game, having to get dressed in a baseball dug out as we had no locker room, and a warm day were a challenge. On the field, Stevenson had a good game plan by keeping us off the field offensively as much as possible in the first half. We made adjustments late in the game and were able to run the ball and play great defense and win it at the end. When you have an undefeated record, teams just play a little harder. Our experience was a big difference in the game and we’ll take this experience to help us as we enter the playoffs.”
Stevenson used the clock wisely as they held the ball for most of the first half and limited the Mustangs to just two possessions. The Pirates scored at 5:49 of the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead with a 30-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Lincoln Clymo and a point-after attempt by Aiden Sanborn.
King City had trouble gaining yardage and had to punt back to the Pirates. The Mustang defense did force the Pirates to punt, although Stevenson held the ball for almost eight minutes. In the second quarter, Kody Lambert scored for King City on a pass play from Rocky Vasquez and a PAT by Bryan Gonzales tied the game at 7-7. With time running out in the first half, Barak De La Rosa scored on a two-yard pass play from Clymo and the Pirates took a 14-7 lead with the second PAT by Sanborn.
In the second half, Stevenson continued with the short passing game and runs by Clymo to keep the ball from King City. With four minutes left to play in the third quarter, De La Rosa caught an eight-yard pass on the home side from Clymo to score his second touchdown of the game. The 21-7 deficit did nothing but fire up the Mustangs as the veteran team knew that there was plenty of time to make a comeback. Senior running back Carson Tidwell ran on to the field on the next Mustang possession ready to take his team to another level.
A Tidwell nine-yard touchdown cut the lead to 21-14 with just a couple of minutes left in the third quarter. The speedy Tidwell took over in the fourth quarter as he tied the game with a 37-yard run and then scored on a nine-yard run to give his team the lead at 28-21. The Mustang defense kept Stevenson from getting any closer than the 35-yard line and the game ended on the timely interception by Navarro. King City then took a knee and ran out the clock to reach the 10-mark in wins.
On Sunday, King City received the No. 4 seed in the CCS Division III playoffs and will host No. 5 seed Menlo-Atherton at 7 p.m. this Friday at War Memorial Stadium. A win could send the Mustangs to the semifinals against No. 1 Wilcox or No. 8 Ann Sobrato.
GONZALES
Last Friday at Santa Cruz High, the visiting Gonzales Spartans lost 28-27 to the host Cardinals in the final Santa Lucia Division game for the two teams.
Quarterback Jeffrey Schweitzer led the Spartans with 340 total yards, completing 15 of 25 pass attempts for 209 yards and rushed for 131 yards and scored four touchdowns on 18 carries.
Jordan Askew led the receiving corps with six catches for 84 yards, followed by Santiago Cuevas with five receptions for 52 yards. Damian Amador contributed with three receptions for 36 yards. The Spartans finished with 360 yards of total offense and 20 first downs.
Defensively, Jeyson Figueroa led Gonzales with eight tackles, including four tackles for loss and two sacks. Adrian Tejeda added six tackles and Nelson Cisneros contributed with seven total tackles.
The Spartans were in the lead with 39 seconds to go until a controversial safety was awarded to the home team giving them the victory.
“The refs were making an impact all night,” said Gonzales head coach Eddy Ramirez. “Our guys played hard and deserved the win. The result just didn’t reflect on the scoreboard.”
