Gavilan falls 39-13 to Mendocino College
Gilroy – Gavilan College is three games into a 10-game football season, and problems persist.
The Rams are still struggling against beatable opponents in a six-game pre-Coast Conference schedule; they are not hanging onto the football long enough to allow the offense to march with any amount of consistency, and they haven’t settled on a first-string quarterback.
Saturday night offered the most recent evidence, a 39-13 loss to Mendocino College at Garcia-Elder Complex.
Seven turnovers eliminated any chance of a victory by the 0-3 Rams. The Eagles grabbed a 14-0 lead after one quarter, then went to the halftime break up 39-7, while not allowing a single first down.
Gavilan posted the only points of the final 30 minutes. Freshman tailback Justin Sweeney jetted 77 yards down the left side for a touchdown with 10:14 left in the third quarter, the fourth-longest rushing play in the 44 seasons of Ram football.
“Our defense did play well,” said Gavilan coach John Lango. “We blocked some kicks, came up with a fumble recovery for a touchdown. The turnovers killed us. We missed too many handoffs.”
“Gavilan is down in numbers,” said fourth-year Mendocino coach Tom Gang. “They played hard throughout, though, and never gave up. Our offensive line stepped up and dominated the line of scrimmage.”
Mendocino, 2-1 for the season, took a 6-0 lead with 8:28 left in the first quarter. Ram quarterback Will Kilday lofted a high pass toward the right sideline that corner Bryan Morris intercepted and carried 54 yards to paydirt. The point-after kick by Ramez Alkhoury bounded off the left upright.
A fumble off a completed Ram pass was recovered by the Eagles near midfield with three minutes left in the quarter. Quarterback Dayton Edwards used two passes to Steven Joachim to cover the distance, the second a 27-yard aerial behind the Ram coverage for the TD. The two-point PAT rush made it 14-0.
Gavilan cut the deficit in half with 12:05 left in the first half. Jermey Burns scooped up a Mendocino fumble and scooted 82 yards for a touchdown. Erk Cifuentes successfully added the PAT kick.
The Eagles struck for four touchdowns in an eight-minute span of the second quarter.
Brent Barstow ran 21 yards for a touchdown with 8:25 left. The PAT kick was blocked.
Kyle O’Donnell snared a 55-yard pass from Edwards with 4:35 left. Alkhoury providing the placement.
Mendocino turned a sack and fumble into a recovery on the Gavilan 1-yard line with 3:15 left. Edwards snuck in on the first play for a 33-7 advantage. Morris then completed the scoring by catching a 23-yard pass from Edwards with 57 seconds remaining in the half.
Mendocino built a 339-116 advantage in total offense. Gavilan managed just four completions in 24 tries. Sam Moultrie was 2-of-10 for 13 yards and two interceptions. Kilday covered 24 yards with two completions in 11 tries.
The Rams are home again Saturday as Contra Costa comes to Gilroy for a 7pm contest.
