The Gavilan Rams will take on Monterey Peninsula College at a
special time Saturday in a key Coast Conference football showdown
on the Lobo field.
The Gavilan Rams will take on Monterey Peninsula College at a special time Saturday in a key Coast Conference football showdown on the Lobo field.
Originally listed as a 6pm start, the contest will now kick off at 4pm because of an apple moth spraying procedure set for later that evening throughout Monterey County. The staffs from both colleges agreed to the earlier start to avoid any issues with the needed spraying activity announced for that area beginning at 8pm.
The Rams and Lobos are each 0-1 with three games left in Coast Conference play.
“We’re a lot alike,” said MPC coach Mike Rasmussen when asked to comment on Saturday’s contest.
“There is great competition in our conference. Our team will need to have a balanced offense to make us successful against Gavilan. We don’t have any one guy who jumps off the screen for us. Even on defense, we need to play well as a team. Our kicker, Chris Pinto, handles both place-kicking and punting and has performed well. This should be a pretty typical Coast Conference game – whoever plays the best will win.”
Monterey Peninsula College, at 5-2, has more wins that any other conference member. A 24-20 loss to Cabrillo two weeks ago left the Lobos in jeopardy of slipping into the second division of the conference with another setback.
Andrew Rosso leads MPC in rushing with 484 yards and four touchdowns in 141 carries. Gavilan’s top runner is TimLango, 93 for 303 and three touchdowns.
The Lobo quarterback is Garrett Collins, who has completed 98 of 194 attempts for 14 TDs and 1,181 yards. The Ram counterpart, Nick Kalantari, is 90-for-180 for 1,010 yards and eight touchdowns.
“Mike is an excellent coach in taking what the other team gives you,” Gavilan coach John Lango said of the Lobo leader. “We’re fifth in Northern California and 12th in the state in rush to defense,” added Lango, suggesting that the Lobos will be throwing the ball Saturday evening.
“Looking at film from the San Jose City game, our defensive linemen didn’t get off the ball well,” said Lango. “We need to do that better against MPC. We’ll also need to sustain some drives and avoid turning the ball over.”
Gavilan follows the Lobo tilt with two home games, including a Nov. 3 game against 0-2 DeAnza.
