Homecoming brings league-leading Cowboys to town
Despite a 24-0 road loss to Alvarez High last Saturday that left
his Mustangs still searching for their first win of the season,
Gilroy High Football Coach Darren Yafai remained upbeat as he
readied his team this week in practice for tonight’s homecoming
contest against Salinas High.
Homecoming brings league-leading Cowboys to town
Despite a 24-0 road loss to Alvarez High last Saturday that left his Mustangs still searching for their first win of the season, Gilroy High Football Coach Darren Yafai remained upbeat as he readied his team this week in practice for tonight’s homecoming contest against Salinas High.
“We are working on stressing discipline, holding onto the ball and remaining optimistic,” said Yafai. “We played a pretty tight ballgame against Alvarez. It was a lot closer than the final outcome.”
Unfortunately for the Mustangs, close doesn’t count.
And tonight they are squaring off with last year’s defending Division II Central Coast Section Football champions. This year, the Cowboys are 4-1 and look to be on track to go deep into the post-season dance.
“They have a ton of experience-many first team All-League players,” said Yafai.
One of those players is Christian Taylor. For the last three years, Taylor has played just about every position for the Cowboys, including safety, halfback and punter.
“He’s probably the best athlete in the league,” said Yafai.
Another standout for Salinas is Charles Saguil. Last season, Saguil, a defensive tackle, was the Monterey Bay League’s (now the Tri-County Athletic League) Defensive Player of the Year.
“He is incredible,” said Yafai. “A Division I prospect.”
In addition to homecoming, tonight’s game is also special in that it is the league-opener for the Mustangs. And even with a record of 0-4, Gilroy has a shot at making the playoffs if they can win their remaining games.
In 1996 when St. Francis High School won the CCS Division I Championship with a record of 7-6 over a 12-1 Oak Grove team.
In the game against Alvarez, anyone who was in attendance would agree with Yafai’s assessment that the game was closer than the final score would indicate.
For three quarters, the Eagles led 10-0, but play was nip and tuck as both schools battled back and fourth.
In fact, the score should have been 10-10 at that point because Gilroy had a 25-yard touchdown reception by Roger Ortiz called back in the first quarter as a result of a holding penalty. In the same quarter, Gilroy missed a field goal.
“We had the opportunities, but we weren’t very opportunistic,” said Yafai. “We have been hit by the unlucky bug.”
In the fourth quarter, the Mustangs had another chance to score that would have cut the 10-0 lead to 10-7. With 8:00 to go, the Mustangs took the ball and drove nearly the length of the field to the Eagles 11-yard line, but Gilroy center Jeremy Singleton and quarterback Ben Hemeon fumbled the exchange from center.
“Alvarez played tough on defense,” said Yafai. “A week earlier, they shut down Salinas 33-0 before allowing 20 points in the fourth quarter. They are tough.”
That toughness continued to take its toll in the fourth quarter.
Two plays after the fumble, Alvarez scored on a 70-yard run to make the score 17-0. Then Alvarez punched it in on a 5-yard run with 17 seconds remaining to put the final nail in the Mustangs’ coffin.
A few bright spots for the Mustangs last Saturday were the solid efforts by running back J.L. Mangono and wide receiver Greg Lucio. Mangono had 71 yard rushing on 18 carries and Lucio had five receptions for 47 yards.
