The Gavilan College Rams take a 1-0 record and a 15th ranking in
Northern California into Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against the College
of Marin Mariners in Gilroy’s Mustang Stadium.
By Bob Burch Sports Writer
Gilroy – The Gavilan College Rams take a 1-0 record and a 15th ranking in Northern California into Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against the College of Marin Mariners in Gilroy’s Mustang Stadium.
Coach John Lango is wary of the game because the Rams faltered last season after a opening with a win and then tripped against Marin 28-24 on the winners’ turf.
Gavilan has not opened 2-0 since the first of Coach Dan Atencio’s two seasons manning the Ram fortunes. Gavilan defeated Hartnell 14-9 and Cabrillo 7-6 in 1998.
“We’re aware of a possible letdown,” Lango said about the tone of this week’s practice sessions. “We need to play with the same intensity shown against West Valley (a 21-3 win).
“We know, after watching game film, that the offense can get better. The linemen need to hold their blocks, the running backs have to hit holes properly.”
The Mariners will be a frosh-dominated team, according to first-year coach Karl Finley.
“We have three sophomores, so we are very young and inexperienced,” said Finley. DeAnza, like Gavilan a Coast Conference member, took advantage of the Mariners’ age to power to a 55-6 victory last weekend.
After two seasons of record-setting total offense by quarterback Geary Davenport, Marin’s fortunes are led by freshman quarterback Lafon Howard out of San Francisco’s Washington High School.
The 6-foot, 180-pounder “may be running for his life,” Finley said of the prospects of taking on the Ram defense. “They are a real good defensive team. It’s going to be tough on our offense. We’ll have to come up with some surprise plays.”
Howard was limited to a 6-for-9 performance against the Dons, good for 45 yards and one touchdown. Sophomore defensive end Daryll Johnson, a 6-3, 265-pounder, was named a Community College Player of the Week for a seven-tackle, two sack effort against DeAnza.
“Marin’s a scrappy team,” said Lango. “They run a little wing T, a little fly offense.
“We’re looking forward to our first home game. We’re relatively healthy, with only defensive tackle Leonard Pinon potentially out because of a knee injury this week in practice. We have made some changes on special teams. We’re anxious in this game to have improvement in the running game.”
Marin was held to 179 yards of total offense by DeAnza. Gavilan came up with 251 yards against the Vikings with an eye toward a big improvement Saturday night.
