Modesto – It’s way too early in the college football season to call any one game make-or-break.
And yet, it’s a good bet Gavilan will feel a sense of urgency when it hosts Mendocino College on Saturday at Gilroy HS.
One could sense that sophomore quarterback Sam Moultrie felt that way after last Saturday’s 43-12 defeat to Modesto College. His impassioned plea to his teammates was that they are a family that needs to come together immediately. Don’t point fingers and hitch your fortunes to the same wagon, is what he told his teammates.
“No, that is not typical for Sam,” Gavilan coach John Lango said. “He said what he felt.”
None of the Rams were in a particularly good mood after being thoroughly dominated by the Pirates (2-0). Modesto, led by the razor-sharp passing of redshirt freshman quarterback Chad Draper, had a 469-206 advantage in total yards. The Pirates won the battle up front and made big plays on both sides of the ball.
Draper, who misfired on his first two passing attempts, was 20-of-21 thereafter, including his last 14 in a row, throwing three touchdown passes. That set a school record, previously held by current Pirates’ quarterback coach Mike Meinert (12 completions in succession). It wasn’t anything unusual for Draper, who was 19-of-21 a week earlier and 10-of-12 in a preseason scrimmage.
“Our whole offense is quarterback-driven,” Modesto coach Sam Young said, “and he’s a pretty good quarterback. His main job is to audible out of bad plays. I thought he did a good job with that.”
In a bizarre start to the game, the Pirates had two big plays called back on its first two plays and accumulated 40 yards in penalties in the first 1:48 before a fumble recovery by the Rams’ Anthony Vasquez halted a drive at the Rams’ 18.
But Gavilan (0-2) was unable to move the ball. Modesto, which had 12 penalties for 126 yards, then scored on four of its next five possessions to take a 27-6 halftime lead. Stephan Ortega, a 245-pound back who rushed for 104 yards on 18 carries, scored the first of his three touchdowns to put Modesto on the board with 6:20 left in the first quarter.
After falling behind 20-0, Moultrie guided Gavilan 71 yards in seven plays, capped by a Matt Perkins dive from the 3 with 1:45 left until halftime. Moultrie connected with Perkins for 18 yards and Ellis Krout for 41 during the drive.
The Pirates turned right around and marched 64 yards in four plays. A 54-yard pass play from Draper to Jamie January was the big play. Moultrie connected with tight end Thomas Brown for a 5-yard touchdown pass with 16 seconds left in the half.
“They’re a very good football team,” said Moultrie, who shared quarterback duties with Will Kilday. “They played their (butts) off.”
Modesto, which had 295 yards of total offense in the first half, scored in their first possession of the second half with Ortega’s 34-yard run capping a 75 yard, nine-play drive. After the Pirates scored on a safety for a 36-6 lead after three quarters, Gavilan scored on its first possession of the fourth period.
Justin Castaneda got things going with a 27-yard return of a blocked field goal that gave the Rams the ball at the Pirates’ 40. Justin Sweeney had a 15-yard run during the drive that the freshman from Gilroy capped with a 10-yard TD run.
Gavilan had one more long drive that came up empty. The Rams marched 55 yards in 13 plays before giving the ball up on downs.
“We’ve got to get better, period,” Lango said. “We didn’t tackle well. Other than that, we have to make plays.”
Perkins rushed 16 times for 59 yards and Krout caught four passes for 70 yards. And the Rams stuck to their plan of establishing the run and mixing in the pass, even when they fell far behind.
“Our quarterback play is improving, and we were able to get some stuff going,” Lango said. “We have things we need to work on and we will get it done.”
