Turnovers, sacks lead to 50-10 loss
When a team loses 50-10, it’s hard to believe that at one time
it actually had the lead. But that was the case last Saturday night
in Gavilan College’s punishing home loss to the Sierra College
Wolverines.
Turnovers, sacks lead to 50-10 loss
When a team loses 50-10, it’s hard to believe that at one time it actually had the lead. But that was the case last Saturday night in Gavilan College’s punishing home loss to the Sierra College Wolverines.
Early in the first quarter the Rams scored on a 30-yard field goal by Brandon Almaguer at 8:56 in the first quarter to take a 3-0 lead.
After that, it was all down hill.
In fact it was so lopsided that Ram Coach John Lango must have felt like he was in a bad dream as he watched helplessly from the sideline.
Trailing 3-0, Sierra, the No. 8-ranked team in Northern California, proceed to score 50 unanswered points before the Rams picked up a meaningless touchdown in the game’s closing minutes
“They are a well-coached team,” said Lango, as he was about to head out to the practice field Tuesday to find the answers to the Rams latest debacle that left them with a record of 1-2. “When you give up six sacks and commit six turnovers like we did, it isn’t going to work. It all comes back to execution and that’s what we need to work on.”
The irony is that the crushing loss was an improvement from last year’s meeting between the two schools. In 2001, the Rams fell 53-12 to Sierra.
This year, the Wolverines scored 26 of their 50 points off of turnovers and made their way into the end zone six times in their first eight possessions.
Tonight, the Rams hope to have a better grip on the ball and their woes on the field solved when they take on Mendocino College in Ukiah.
“We match up much better against them,” said Lango. “They’re not a big team, both physically and roster size wise. Sierra was big and fast.”
And it showed immediately. For the entire game, Gavilan defenders struggled to make key tackles, which would have stopped crucial scoring drives.
“We just need to lock on better,” said Lango. “Against Marin, we did a good job of it. In that game, they might have caught the ball but we made the tackle right away.
“We must be doing something right though because Marin scored 51 points last Saturday and 57 in another game. But we only allowed them 21 points. We need to play the way we did against Marin.”
Gavilan won the Marin game by a score of 23-21. It marked the third time the school has won in the last three years.
And the Rams could have another long wait if they continue to play like they did last week.
The Rams defense gave up 442 yards of offense to Sierra. Meanwhile, Gavilan could only muster 242 yards of total offense. Most of those yards came on an 87-yard scoring drive late in the forth quarter-when Sierra had pulled many of its starters and the game was meaningless.
The Rams only touchdown drive started at their own 43-yard line and ended when Gavilan quarterback A.J. Palmer scored on a 6-yard touchdown run.
The touchdown did little to quell Palmer’s rough night, which included two interceptions and three fumbles. Passing wise, Palmer was 7 of 20 for 132 yards.
The one bright spot for Gavilan was the impressive play by freshman wide receiver Brandon Persijn, who had three catches on the night for 84 yards.
