KING CITY — Using a six-play drive after a 35-yard punt return by Kody Lambert, the King City Mustangs scored the winning points and then played solid defense to beat the visiting Greenfield Bruins, 21-14, last Friday at War Memorial Stadium.
With the win, King City improved to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the Mission Division, while Greenfield lost their fifth straight game to fall to 2-5 overall and 0-3 in the league.
“That was a big win for us against Greenfield,” said Mustangs head coach Mac Villanueva. “We anticipated that it would be a low-scoring game, where mistakes would be magnified and could decide the outcome. Greenfield is very tough defensively and their record is deceiving. They could easily be a 5-2 team instead of 2-5.”
After stopping each other defensively and forcing each other to punt, the Mustangs began a drive from their own 45-yard line and advanced the ball to the Greenfield 29-yard line.
King City quarterback Jesus Manriquez then fired a pass to Lambert for a 29-yard touchdown. A PAT by Johell Carrillo made the score 7-0 with 1:58 to play in the first quarter.
The Bruins tied the game at 7-7 at the 4:39 mark of the second quarter with a 16-yard touchdown run by quarterback Naythen Hernandez and a PAT by Hector Garcia. The two teams took the 7-7 tie into the halftime Homecoming intermission.
The teams returned onto the field for the third quarter, with Greenfield wanting to continue to run the ball and play hard-hitting defense and the Mustangs wanting to create some running room for Carson Tidwell and get the ball in the air to their receivers.
Greenfield struck first in the second half with a one-yard touchdown run by AJ Martinez and a PAT by Hector Garcia. With 6:37 left in the third quarter, the Bruins took a 14-7 lead.
The Mustangs took the kickoff and advanced the football with runs by Tidwell and a pass to Lambert. After being tackled time and time again by the smothering Greenfield defense, Tidwell took a handoff and headed up the home sidelines and rambled 61 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-13. The PAT by Carrillo tied the game at 14-14 with 3:33 to play in the third quarter.
After stopping the Bruins and forcing a punt from the Greenfield 25-yard line, Lambert fielded the ball and ran up the field for 35 yards to earn first-down on the Greenfield 40-yard line. King City then moved the ball with runs by Tidwell to set up a 10-yard pass play from Manriquez to receiver Fabian Herrera.
With Greenfield set on stopping a running play, Manriquez faked a handoff off to Tidwell and gave the ball to Alejandro Macias, who just needed a key block on Greenfield safety Hernandez to score the go-ahead touchdown. Carrillo then entered the game to kick his third PAT of the game.
Leading 21-14, the Mustang defense did the rest, holding the Bruins to short gains. The Homecoming win was assured when heavy King City pressure forced the elusive Hernandez to take a fall on fourth down and turn the ball over to the Mustangs.
King City then went into victory formation to run out the clock and take the 21-14 win.
“Offensively, I felt we left points on the field on our first drive,” said Coach Villanueva. “A couple of mistakes led to us turning the ball over on downs in their territory. Greenfield had the ball on offense the majority of the game, as we were limited to 41 total offensive plays and seven offensive possessions. We made plays when we had to and were able to hold on for the win.”
Manny Garcia-Loa was praised by the Mustang coaching staff for filling in at right guard due to an injury. Tidwell continued his productive season with 154 all-purpose offensive yards with 90 rushing and 64 receiving and scored one touchdown.
Lambert contributed with four receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown, and Manriquez made some clutch throws.
On defense for King City, Rocky Villanueva and Nathan Vega combined for 22 tackles and Fabian Herrera had eight tackles and broke up a pass. Johell Carrillo added five tackles and broke up a pass.
“Overall I was pretty happy with how the boys played in all three phases of the game,” said Coach Villanueva. “We definitely saw the hands on their hips by Greenfield in the fourth quarter. We were in shape.”
In games this Friday, King City will travel to Salinas to play the North Salinas Vikings and Greenfield will have a bye week before returning to play on Oct. 25 at Soledad High.
“They (North Salinas) run two completely different offenses with the Wing T and the spread,” Villanueva said. “They have good speed and good athletes.”
