A herd of Rams, the Gavilan College Rams variety, invade Andy
Hardin Field Saturday night as juco football comes to town in a
rare appearance.
A herd of Rams, the Gavilan College Rams variety, invade Andy Hardin Field Saturday night as juco football comes to town in a rare appearance.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Gavilan hosts De Anza College of Cupertino in the Coast Conference lidlifter for both teams.
There are just four conference games for the 2-4 Rams, who are in one of two five-team Junior College conferences in the state, according to Gavilan head coach John Lango.
Four teams the regular season at 2-4. Only Monterey Peninsula College, which the Rams play at Gilroy High on Nov. 9, is 0-6.
“That’s the way they wanted to set the league up,” said Lango, in his second full season as head mentor. He was interim head coach three years ago. “San Mateo was in the league last year and they just kicked the heck out of everybody. They’re out this year and Cabrillo is in. Anybody can win this league, even Monterey.”
Haybaler fans won’t have to venture across Hwy 25 to catch their favorite Baler, of which there are 11 on this Rams squad.
On offense, wide receiver Brandon Almaguer is one of the top players on the Rams offense, which has sputtered at times this year.
“We’ve had a great week of practice,” said Lango. “Last game, we did the right things, but we just missed connecting.”
Kenny Vaccarezza starts at left tackle, while Luke Kuhns starts at offensive guard. Brandon Persign is a backup wideout. Steve Salcedo, a halfback, won’t play this Saturday due to a foot injury suffered at Mendocino two weeks ago. John Conroy adds depth to the offensive line.
Paul Bianchi has had a “stellar” season at defensive end, according to Lango. Adrian Correa starts at defensive tackle, while strong safety Tim Sullivan and free safety Cameron Shutts, a fine tandem while at Hollister last season, makeup half of the Rams’ secondary.
Kyle Thomas, a Hollister resident who attended Palma, is the Rams’ kick return man and rotates in at cornerback.
“We’re a lot better off than we were last year at this time,” said Lango. “We had 28 players then. We’re suiting up 46 players on Saturday. I’m really happy the way it’s going.”
