KING CITY — King City Mustangs ended the football season with a 21-0 win over the Soledad Aztecs on Friday night at War Memorial Stadium.
Soledad needed to win to keep their Central Coast Section at-large chances alive, but the Mustangs secured the victory with two late scores in the last few minutes of the contest.
“Very proud of the way the boys finished the season,” said King City head coach Mac Villanueva. “Finishing 2-0 to get to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in league was a great way to close out the season. The best part is that we return the core of this team, with seven of them being sophomores this year.”
Soledad head coach Marc Villanueva said his team made too many mistakes that kept them from staying competitive in the game.
“We had a rough time getting things going offensively, but our defense held on for the first half with a 0-0 score,” said Marc Villanueva. “Offensively, we had five turnovers (three fumbles and two interceptions), which ended up being costly and stalling drives. There were about seven dropped passes for this games, although we did have 100 rushing yards and under 100 passing yards.”
The first half consisted of the Aztecs stopping the Mustangs on turnover of downs and King City holding Soledad to limited yardage and forcing punts.
King City had good field position after recovering a fumble and earning a first down on the Soledad 32-yard line. The drive ended when the Mustangs failed to convert on a fourth down incomplete pass at the 30.
With just over six minutes left in the first half, an interception by King City’s Fabian Herrera gave the Mustangs a first down on the Soledad 29-yard line. The drive ended on a fourth and 13 incomplete pass.
At the 8:27 mark of the third quarter, Carson Tidwell scored the first points of the game with a 25-yard touchdown. A Johell Carrillo PAT gave King City a 7-0 advantage.
The Mustangs scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter with a seven-yard touchdown pass from Rocky Vasquez to Carrillo at tight end. In the final minutes, Tidwell brought the King City crowd to its feet scoring on a 40-yard touchdown run. Carrillo scored all the Mustang PATs in the 21-0 win.
Tidwell finished with 136 rushing yards on 23 carries and rushed for two touchdowns to give him 17 touchdowns overall. Tidwell ran for 1,000 yards this season and is the first Mustang to accomplish that feat in 12 years. Rocky Vasquez completed seven passes for 83 yards.
Carrillo was the leading receiver for King City with two receptions for 44 yards and had one touchdown reception. Carrillo was a special teams standout as he pinned Soledad deep in their territory with his punts and also forced a fumble.
Rocky Villanueva added nine tackles and Armando Villasenor added seven tackles. Fabian Herrera picked up his sixth interception of the season and had six tackles and a 64-yard punt return. Fernando Camacho blocked a punt after Soledad’s first possession of the second half that set up Tidwell’s first touchdown.
