GILROY —Merced’s running game proved too much for Gavilan to handle.
The Blue Devils rushed for 518 yards and six touchdowns to ease past the Rams 43-14 Saturday at the Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
“Merced’s a good team, we knew that,” said Gavilan coach Spencer Gilford. “Give them credit—the coach prepared them well. They knew what worked and they stuck with it.”
The Blue Devils ran 81 times for the game, not needing to pass until the final five minutes of the second quarter.
“We went with what was working,” said Merced coach Bob Casey. “We’re still not satisfied. We have some things that need improvement. I thought the defense did a good job against the Gavilan receivers until that last-minute big play.”
Merced quarterback Juwan Brown ran an option sweep to a 44-yard touchdown three plays into the visitors’ first series. Arturo Mendez converted the point-after for a 7-0 Blue Devil lead with 13:59 left in the first quarter.
Gavilan turned to its defense for a tying touchdown.
Merced running back Josh Stevens, the night’s top rusher with 186 yards on 26 carries, fumbled on the second play of the next Devil series.
“I saw Cody Hendricks made a big hit on the back and the ball popped out,” Gavilan defensive back Mike Pirnik said. “I was able to pick it up and then all I saw was green.”
Pirnik raced 41 yards along the left sideline for his first collegiate touchdown. Pat McQueen added the tying PAT.
“That was Pirnik’s first game back since a broken arm in the Yuba game” noted Gilford. “He had a good game and Hawkins played well.”
Merced came up with the next 36 points before Gavilan quarterback Sterling Montgomery lofted a pass to wide-out Armani Miller along the right sideline. Miller made the catch between two defenders and that jetted away from the defense to complete the 63-yard scoring play with 1:06 left in the game.
“Montgomery did some good things for his first start against a good teach,” said Gilford. Starting quarterback Drew Fryhoff was not available against Merced but may be ready for the Hartnell game.
“Merced had a tough offense,” said Pirnik. “They had a really big offense line that was effective pushing at us and giving their backs some room.”
Robert Pew, one of four Merced rushers to break 100 yards, took a pitch 33 yards to a go-ahead touchdown with 10 minutes to play in the first quarter. Pew added a two-yard plunge for a 21-7 lead late in the quarter, then made it 28-7 with a one-yard run with 10:23 to play in the half.
Merced added a 38-yard TD run from Stevens and a 26-yard fumble return to paydirt in the second half.
“We did have some chances where we could score some touchdowns or get a field goal but we had some breakdowns,” said Gilford. “It’s a tough league and we need to get back to work against another good team this week.”
Montgomery connected on 26 of 44 attempts for 317 yards. Deniko Carter came up with eight catches for 117 yards. Miller netted 97 yards and a touchdown on five catches.
The Rams (2-5 overall, 0-4 in league) will try to stop a five-game losing streak when they test Hartnell at 6 p.m. Nov. 1 in Salinas.
