American River College produced its second consecutive 42-7
victory on Saturday afternoon, and Gavilan College was the victim
on the winners field.
First-game mistakes negated any chance of Rams head coach John
Lango beginning his 10th campaign as a winner. While the offense
produced several trips into the Beavers’ end of the field and the
defense came up with three interceptions, the Rams broke down often
on special teams and were unable to contain the host’s versatile
spread offense.
SACRAMENTO
American River College produced its second consecutive 42-7 victory on Saturday afternoon, and Gavilan College was the victim on the winners field.
First-game mistakes negated any chance of Rams head coach John Lango beginning his 10th campaign as a winner. While the offense produced several trips into the Beavers’ end of the field and the defense came up with three interceptions, the Rams broke down often on special teams and were unable to contain the host’s versatile spread offense.
While Gavilan used Saturday’s test as a season opener, American River already fashioned a 42-7 win the previous week over the Solano Falcons.
American River “showed like it was playing its second game,” Lango said.
“We really looked like this was our first game. We all expect to improve this week and we know most of the mistakes we made are fixable.”
Gavilan hosts former Coast Conference rival Cabrillo Saturday at 7 p.m. at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex in Gilroy.
Gavilan did strike first on Saturday, though, taking a 7-0 lead four minutes into the contest.
“We started out well, had a three-and-out series to force a punt,” Lango said of American River’s opening drive. “On our second play after the punt, we turned a hitch-and-go into a 68-yard touchdown pass and we had the 7-0 lead.”
Mike Incardona fired the touchdown pass to sophomore Tim Harvey. Incardona played all but the final two series’ for the Rams when Lango put Matt Edwards in during the fourth quarter. Harvey took game-high receiving honors with 139 yards.
American River racked up 467 yards in total offense, sparked by three rushing touchdowns from Mike Dutra. Quarterback Jared Gavard added a 6-yard touchdown run and a 58-yard scoring strike to Taylor Wilkinson.
The Rams could not convert three first-half scoring chances when two field goals were missed and another drive was lost on a fumble into the Beavers end zone. More critical to the Rams’ victory chances were a pair of punt situations that helped the Beavers to a 35-7 halftime edge.
American River blocked a Gavilan punt in the first quarter, taking over possession on the Ram 1 to set up a Dutra score.
Beaver defensive tackle Harrison Wilfley managed the play of the game late in the first quarter. When the Beavers faced a fourth-and-13 at its own 32 with a 14-7 lead, Lango sent out his punt return squad. Instead, Wilfley took a short snap and broke three tackles to cover the 68 yards to a 21-7 advantage.
“We had a lot of young guys playing in key positions,” Lango said. “Our offensive line played well and Incardona managed the game well. We made some adjustments at halftime and limited them to one touchdown.”
Arthur Pittman, Ryan Costa and Dante Young each had an interception for Gavilan, with Costa’s pick coming in the Rams’ end zone to stop one Beaver drive.
