SALINAS VALLEY — The 2024 football season has concluded for South Monterey County football teams, with Gonzales defeating Harbor 42-6 at the Pit in Salinas; King City shutting out Soledad 21-0 at home; and Greenfield winning a road game against Rancho San Juan by a 33-6 score.
GONZALES
A long season of road games ended for the Gonzales Spartans after a 42-6 Santa Lucia Division victory over the Harbor Pirates on Saturday at the Pit on the Salinas High campus.
The game was a tale of two halves, as the Spartans slowly took a 14-0 lead in the first half then watched as the Pirates fought back to cut the lead to 14-6 with a touchdown and no time left in the second quarter clock. The second half featured 35 unanswered points from Gonzales as they overwhelmed Harbor.
The Spartans took a 7-0 lead at the 6:03 mark of the first quarter with a touchdown by quarterback Ray Blanco and a PAT by Luis Cabada. In the second quarter, the lead grew to 14-0 with a short run for another score by Blanco and the PAT by Cabada. The first half hit a stalemate the rest of the first half until Harbor earned some yardage with the passing game and scored on a touchdown pass to cut the lead to 7-6 after a missed PAT with no time left on the clock.
The intermission on Senior Night gave the Spartans a lift as they came out firing in the second half, crushing the Pirates with a strong running game.
Juan Luis Arriola scored on a six-yard touchdown to give Gonzales a 21-6 advantage early in the third quarter, and Tony Garcia made the score 28-6 with a 14-yard touchdown run. A Jason Tejeda touchdown run extended the lead to 35-6, and Ely Cisneros completed his career at Gonzales with a fourth quarter touchdown run that made the final score 42-6. Cabada was successful on all his PAT kicks.
Gonzales finished the night with 353 rushing yards, led by 105 yards from Cisneros. On defense, ends Garcia and Joshua Mariscal had strong efforts, while Tejeda at linebacker had five tackles, one sack and one fumble caused. Nate Alvarez and Dominique Montiel caused problems for the Pirates all night long.
Jackie Camacho, the first female Spartan to play four years of football, including two at varsity, caught a pass for five yards and had two assist tackles on the night.
“I’m proud of this team for having played 10 road games,” said Gonzales head coach Eddy Ramirez. “This team relied on each other for inspiration and we became a family. With the win, our Spartans finished 6-4 and brought home the coveted megaphone, both of which had not been done since before the pandemic. This group is special to me, they should be proud, I know I am. Now it’s time for my staff and I to reflect. We will learn, and we will get better.”
KING CITY & SOLEDAD
King City Mustangs ended the season for the Soledad Aztecs with a 21-0 win on Friday night at War Memorial Stadium.
Soledad needed to win to keep their Central Coast Section at-large chances alive, but the Mustangs secured the win with two late scores in the last few minutes of the contest.
“Very proud of the way the boys finished the season,” said King City head coach Mac Villanueva. “Finishing 2-0 to get to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in league was a great way to close out the season. The best part is that we return the core of this team, with seven of them being sophomores this year.”
Soledad head coach Marc Villanueva said his team made too many mistakes that kept them from staying competitive in the game.
“We had a rough time getting things going offensively, but our defense held on for the first half with a 0-0 score,” said Marc Villanueva. “Offensively, we had five turnovers (three fumbles and two interceptions), which ended up being costly and stalling drives. There were about seven dropped passes for this games, although we did have 100 rushing yards and under 100 passing yards.”
The first half consisted of the Aztecs stopping the Mustangs on turnover of downs and King City holding Soledad to limited yardage and forcing punts.
King City had good field position after recovering a fumble and earning a first down on the Soledad 32-yard line. The drive ended when the Mustangs failed to convert on a fourth down incomplete pass at the 30.
With just over six minutes left in the first half, an interception by King City’s Fabian Herrera gave the Mustangs a first down on the Soledad 29-yard line. The drive ended on a fourth and 13 incomplete pass.
At the 8:27 mark of the third quarter, Carson Tidwell scored the first points of the game with a 25-yard touchdown. A Johell Carrillo PAT gave King City a 7-0 advantage.
The Mustangs scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter with a seven-yard touchdown pass from Rocky Vasquez to Carrillo at tight end. In the final minutes, Tidwell brought the King City crowd to its feet scoring on a 40-yard touchdown run. Carrillo scored all the Mustang PATs in the 21-0 win.
Tidwell finished with 136 rushing yards on 23 carries and rushed for two touchdowns to give him 17 touchdowns overall. Tidwell ran for 1,000 yards this season and is the first Mustang to accomplish that feat in 12 years. Rocky Vasquez completed seven passes for 83 yards.
Carrillo was the leading receiver for King City with two receptions for 44 yards and had one touchdown reception. Carrillo was a special teams standout as he pinned Soledad deep in their territory with his punts and also forced a fumble.
Rocky Villanueva added nine tackles and Armando Villasenor added seven tackles. Fabian Herrera picked up his sixth interception of the season and had six tackles and a 64-yard punt return. Fernando Camacho blocked a punt after Soledad’s first possession of the second half that set up Tidwell’s first touchdown.
GREENFIELD
Greenfield Bruins earned a victory last Friday with a 33-6 win at Rancho San Juan in Salinas.
The Bruins finished 1-5 in the Mission South Division of the Pacific Coast Athletic League and were 3-7 overall this season.
Leading the Bruins on offense was Naythen Hernandez with three touchdowns.
