SALINAS VALLEY — Using their depth with three starters out, the King City Mustangs football team shut out the Gonzales Spartans, 25-0, last Friday night at Dick Force Stadium in Gonzales.
The game was the first football game played on Gonzales High’s new turf field and track.
“To start the week, we had a few injured players but still practiced as if they would be ready to play,” said King City head coach Mac Villanueva. “We found out on Thursday that two of our starters would not be available, and so we decided to change our backfield with Rocky Villanueva, Benjamin Bolanos and Nathan Vega handing the running plays. We wanted to win the game and it didn’t matter to us if it was 20 points or one point. To start the game, we lost our quarterback Rocky Vasquez for a few plays, but we just decided to keep running the ball and had Rocky Villanueva make some handoff, as our second-string quarterback Alexander Macias was out with an injury, along with running back Carson Tidwell. We were a little out of sync to start and came up with just two first-half field goals. Keeping the ball on the ground produced 153 total yards and we came up with big plays in the second half to help us pull away and get the megaphone back.”
Trailing 6-0 in the second quarter, the Spartans looked to at least tie the game as Jordan Askew ran for a long touchdown run that was called back on a holding penalty.
“That play could have given us a chance to get back in the game,” said Gonzales head coach Eddy Ramirez. “We couldn’t get going offensively, but defensively Joshua Mariscal had a good night with eight tackles and Jesus Ruacho had six tackles of his own. Luis Cabada also played well on defense. The night was full of opportunities with three dropped interceptions and a couple of long passes dropped.”
King City took a halftime lead of 6-0 with 35- and 42-yard field goals by Johell Carrillo. In the second half, King City stopped the Spartans on their first drive, then put together a scoring drive that ended with a touchdown run of 34 yards by Nathan Vega. The Mustangs were unsuccessful on a two-point conversion but held a 12-0 advantage.
Minutes later, JC Navarro picked off a pass attempt and scored on a 37-yard interception return. The score went up to 18-0 after a missed PAT. King City completed the scoring with a 27-yard reception to Navarro on a pass from Rocky Vasquez in the fourth quarter. Carrillo added the PAT for the final 25-0 shutout win.
King City produced 261 total yards, including 154 rushing yards. Villanueva led the attack on the ground with 65 yards on 12 carries, all in the first half. Vega rushed for 43 yards on six carries, Vasquez had 17 yards. Bolanos added 13 yards, Daniel Trujillo had 10 yards on five carries, and RJ Ayon and Navarro had a combined six yards.
Vasquez passed for 107 yards and threw one touchdown pass with no interceptions. Kody Lambert finished with two receptions for 60 yards, Navarro had one reception for 27 yards and a touchdown, and Rocky Villanueva had two receptions for 20 yards.
Defensively, the Mustangs held Gonzales to 69 total yards and came up with two sacks, two interceptions and one defensive touchdown.
King City (1-1) will have a bye this week and return to action on Sept. 19 at North Monterey County in Castroville, and Gonzales (0-2) travels to Templeton on Friday night for a 7 p.m. game.
GREENFIELD
Greenfield is 0-2 to start the season after a 21-7 setback against the host Pacific Grove Breakers.
The game was scoreless until the third quarter when the Breakers scored on a 49-yard run by Aaron Appold. Paul Ramirez added the PAT for the host team for a 7-0 lead.
The Bruins tied the game at 7-7 on a 32-yard pass play from quarterback Danny Nava to Francisco Hernandez. The Breakers regained the lead toward the end of the third quarter with a touchdown pass play from Ersi Kullolli to Garrett Kuska and completed the scoring in the final quarter with a two-yard scoring run by Kuska for the final 21-7 score.
“We had a good running game with Travis Ryan rushing for 100 yards,” said Greenfield head coach Adam Barcenas. “Danny Nava improved his play at quarterback and on defense Angel Hernandez and Kenny Pajas came up with eight solo tackles.”
Greenfield will have a bye this week and host Scotts Valley on Sept. 19.
SOLEDAD
Soledad Aztecs (0-2) put up a fight against host North Salinas last Friday as they trailed 7-0 in the first half. The host Vikings scored back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth to take a 20-0 advantage.
Soledad cut the lead to 20-7 with a touchdown pass from quarterback Daniel Valenzuela to Marcos Negrete. North Salinas scored the final points of the game with a 29-yard run by Dylan Reynoso.
Soledad head coach Eric Rodriguez praised Nathaniel Zarco on the defensive line, Negrete at wide receiver and Daniel Garcia at linebacker.
The Aztecs return to action on Sept. 19 against visiting Monte Vista Christian after a bye this week.
