GREENFIELD — Last Friday in Greenfield, the North Salinas Vikings came up with a timely turnover in the first half and another in the second half and defeated the Bruins, 20-6, in the Mission Division opener.
“Defensively, we had a very good game,” said Greenfield head coach Adam Barsenas. “On offense, we shot ourselves in the foot. We had problems maintaining drives with the runs and finished with just 67 passing yards and lost a fumble and gave up an interception.”
The Vikings came up with their first turnover at the 5:49 mark of the first quarter as Greenfield quarterback Christopher Morris tried to throw a pass out of bounds deep in the Bruin side of the field. The pass was called a backward pass and the ball was live and Viking defender George Carriedo scooped it up and scored a touchdown from 15 yards out.
“Our quarterback thought the ball was a forward pass, but the officials did not see it that way,” Barsenas said. “The guy scored so quickly and everyone else just froze on the field.”
The two defenses were tough the rest of the first half, with Greenfield keeping the Vikings’ passing game from coming up with big plays, while North Salinas limited the Bruins’ passing and running game.
In the second half, Carriedo had an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown and Vikings quarterback Kai Ceralde threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Gonzales. The Bruins scored their only touchdown on a two-yard run by Hector Garcia.
AJ Martinez led Greenfield with 67 rushing yards and came up with a fumble and interception. Nathan Hernandez finished with 11 tackles for the Bruins.
Greenfield (0-1 league, 2-3 overall) will host Pacific Grove (1-0 league, 4-1 overall) this Friday night at the Bruins stadium.
“Pacific Grove is a good running team,” Barsenas said. “They can also come up with yardage with the pass.”
SOLEDAD
A potent Carmel Padres offense came into South Monterey County last Friday and defeated the Soledad Aztecs (0-1 league, 2-3 overall) by a 42-7 score.
“We held on for the first half but weren’t able to convert or sustain offensively to keep us in the game,” said Soledad head coach Marc Villanueva. “Special team mistakes were very costly as well on shifting the momentum of the game in the second half. It is critical that we regroup and strengthen areas where we are weak.”
Julio Camacho scored the lone Aztec touchdown that cut the deficit to 34-7 in the third quarter. Camacho finished with 166 yards on 20 carries.
Linebackers Daniel Garcia and Adam Velarde were applauded for having standout games, as Garcia had 10 tackles and Velarde added seven tackles.
In the JV contest, the Aztecs defeated Carmel by a 21-6 score to improve to 3-2.
The Soledad teams will have a bye week and will return to Mission Division play on Friday, Oct. 11, in Salinas against Rancho San Juan.
GONZALES
The Gonzales Spartans football team opened the Santa Lucia Division on Saturday with a 48-27 win at Santa Cruz.
The Spartans had 562 yards of total offense in the game — 487 yards came on the ground, with quarterback Ray Blanco rushing for 141 yards and three touchdowns. Ely Cisneros contributed to the win with 128 yards and a touchdown and Juan Luis Arriola added 114 yards and a touchdown.
“I’m proud of our team’s resiliency,” said Gonzales head coach Eddy Ramirez. “We have a bit of an injury bug right now and could have easily given up, but we’ve adopted a ‘next man up’ mentality and have made our circle tighter. We are happy with our win but can’t rest for too long as our next opponent is Stevenson and they have a great looking team.”
On Saturday, the Spartans will play a “home” game at Monterey Peninsula College as work continues at Dick Force Stadium. Kickoff for the game is 7:30 p.m.
“We have some things to clean up, but we look forward to our first ‘home’ game on the road,” Ramirez said. “We finally get to wear our home colors.”
