Gavilan College came out of Saturday’s Homecoming Game against
Monterey Peninsula College winless for the season, yet the 27
points the Rams scored against the Lobos showed signs of
improvement for the local club. The Lobos shook off a 14-0 deficit
in the second quarter by striking for four touchdowns in the final
8:43 of the half. Once MPC added one touchdown in the third
quarter, Gavilan closed out the scoring with two touchdowns as
Monterey Peninsula College prevailed 35-27.
GILROY
Gavilan College came out of Saturday’s Homecoming Game against Monterey Peninsula College winless for the season, yet the 27 points the Rams scored against the Lobos showed signs of improvement for the local club.
The Lobos shook off a 14-0 deficit in the second quarter by striking for four touchdowns in the final 8:43 of the half. Once MPC added one touchdown in the third quarter, Gavilan closed out the scoring with two touchdowns as Monterey Peninsula College prevailed 35-27.
“We made the big plays on the takeaways,” MPC coach Mike Rasmussen said of the difference in the game.
The Lobos fell behind early in the second quarter when Gavilan’s Chad West dashed 58 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 cushion. MPC spent the remainder of the quarter taking advantage of Gavilan miscues to go up 28-14 by the intermission.
Eric Farias caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from David Fales with 8:43 left in the second quarter to cut the Ram lead in half. Lobo Guy Woodward pounced on Gavilan quarterback Cameron Hernandez’s fumble in the Ram end zone with 3:13 to go to tie it at 14-14.
A miscue on a blitz read with 1:45 left in the half gave the Lobos a 21-14 lead off a 35-yard interception return to paydirt by defensive back Chris Nguyen. MPC went right back on offense with another interception with 90 seconds left in the half. Farias rushed four yards to a touchdown with 54 seconds left in the half for the 28-14 edge.
“(MPC) scored twice off the three turnovers in the second quarter,” Gavilan coach John Lango said.
“We improved on offense, catching the ball better, keeping drives alive. We’ve worked on executing properly and it showed quite a bit. We still need to minimize our mental mistakes. Two penalties kept us to scoring even more points.”
Hernandez, back in the lineup after a concussion kept him off the field against West Valley, threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Andre Cornell with 8:55 left in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead. Hernandez added a touchdown toss of nine yards to Shakeith Fields with 14:15 to go in the game. Hernandez directed an 86-yard touchdown march in the closing minutes, capped by Doug Stewart’s 3-yard bolt for six points with 46 seconds to play.
“We respect Gavilan for how hard they compete,” Rasmussen said. “This was a hard-fought typical Coast Conference battle. That’s the nature of our conference.”
