SALINAS VALLEY — King City’s Carson Tidwell continued to gain rushing yards and Gonzales receiver Jorge Uribe had 302 receiving yards in their teams’ respective victories over Pacific Grove and Marina last week.
Tidwell and Uribe scored three touchdowns apiece in the home wins against the Breakers and Mariners.
KING CITY
With a 7-1 overall record, the King City Mustangs are close to securing their first Central Coast Section (CCS) playoff spot since the 2006-07 season.
King City and Stevenson are tied at 3-0 in the Mission South Division and could meet for a division title showdown in King City on Thursday, Nov. 6.
The Mustangs must first beat this week’s opponent, Greenfield, on Thursday night, and the Pirates have to beat their opponent, Everett Alvarez, on Saturday.
“Pacific Grove was missing one of their best players and we knew we just had to stop their other standout running back,” said King City head coach Mac Villanueva. “We were able to stop the running game and forced Pacific Grove to go the pass and we did a good job of stopping them.”
Last Friday, the offense and defense was on display for King City in the 45-0 Homecoming victory.
Placekicker Johell Carrillo scored the first points of the game with a 31-yard field goal in the first quarter. The Mustangs scored 21 points in the second quarter starting with a 68-yard touchdown run by Carson Tidwell; a second touchdown run by Tidwell of 54 yards; and a touchdown pass of 75 yards from Rocky Vasquez to Alexander Macias to make the halftime score, 24-0.
The second half started off with a bang as freshman RJ Ayon gathered the football on the kickoff and ran for a 95-yard touchdown that put the Mustangs up 31-0.
“Pacific Grove looked confident they could come back going into the halftime break, but I’m sure the kickoff return took a lot out of them,” Coach Villanueva said. “The game was basically over after that play.”
King City finished the game with a 72-yard touchdown run by Tidwell and a 40-yard pass play for a score from Vasquez to Nathan Vega. Carrillo was successful on his six PATs.
Vasquez finished the game with 182 yards passing on a 6-of-13 passing performance. Tidwell ran for 228 yards on 12 carries and scored three touchdowns. Macias caught two passes for 84 yards and scored a touchdown, and Kody Lambert had two receptions for 50 yards.
GONZALES
Last Friday night at Dick Force Stadium, Uribe put on a one-man show as the Gonzales Spartans downed Marina, 29-28. Uribe scored a touchdown with just over a minute to play and caught a two-point conversion for the winning points.
“We always go for the two-point conversion, as we want to win the game,” said Gonzales head coach Eddy Ramirez. “Marina was in a mismatch trying to stop Jorge Uribe. He is very athletic and was able to make plays while being double teamed. He was just in a zone. We had meant to run the ball more but sometimes you have to take what your opponent gives you.”
The Spartans trailed 14-0 at the end of the first quarter, but Uribe cut the lead to 14-7 in the start of the second with a 15-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Jordan Askew and a point-after attempt by Luis Cabada.
In the third quarter, Uribe scored on a pass play of two yards from Askew, and Cabada tied the game at 14-14. In the fourth quarter, the game became a back-and-fourth contest as the Mariners regained the lead at 21-14, then the Spartans tied the game at 21-21 as Askew threw a 21-yard touchdown pass Uribe, and Cabada added the PAT.
Marina scored to go ahead 28-21 on a rushing touchdown by Denzel Garvin.
With under a minute and a half remaining to play, Askew threw a pass to Uribe who ran for a 64-yard touchdown. Deciding to go for the win, Uribe scored on a two-point conversion pass from Askew.
Marina received the kickoff and reached their own 25-yard line. Gonzales held the Mariners to short yardage and the game ended on a sack by defensive ends Jesus Maciel and Isaac Soto.
Uribe broke the Gonzales receiving record with 13 receptions for 302 yards and had an interception as a defensive back. The previous record was held by Gabe Mendez. Askew was 14 of 25 in pass completions.
Defensively, Joshua Mariscal, Luis Cabada and Jesus Ruacho were standouts, along with Jesus Maciel and Isaac Soto.
The victory for Gonzales was the first varsity football victory on the newly renovated stadium.
Gonzales improved to 2-2 in the Santa Lucia Division and are 2-5 overall.
On Halloween night, the Spartans will travel to Harbor High to play the 0-8 Pirates. Gonzales concludes the season at home the following week when they host the Santa Cruz Cardinals.
GREENFIELD
Greenfield Bruins lost 23-6 to the Everett Alvarez Eagles last Friday night in Salinas.
The 0-8 Bruins trailed 16-0 at the half after giving up a score on the opening kickoff, then giving up another score and two-point conversion on an interception and missing a field goal attempt.
“Our young team is improving every week and we are starting to understand the game of football,” said Greenfield head coach Adam Barsenas. “We play King City this week for Homecoming and we want to do a good job preventing big plays.”
SOLEDAD
At Soledad’s Gene Martin stadium on Friday, the visiting Robert Louis Stevenson Pirates (8-0, 3-0 in the Mission South) scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter in a 25-15 win over the Soledad Aztecs (2-6 overall, 1-2 in the Mission South).
The Aztecs led 15-8 to end the third quarter, but penalties and timely plays by Stevenson ruined the upset plans for Soledad.
“We have let too many leads get away from us,” said Aztec head coach Eric Rodriguez. “I know we are young, but we have to do better. We had three holding penalties in one of Stevenson’s last drives and that really hurt us.”
Soledad had a chance to stretch its lead to 18-8 at the start of the fourth, but place kicker Juan Gonzales missed the 20-yard attempt. The Pirates completed the scoring with a passing play and a 40-yard touchdown run to claim the 25-15 victory.
For Soledad, Daniel Garcia led the Aztecs’ rushing attack with 86 yards and a touchdown, and quarterback DJ Valenzuela threw for 123 yards. Leading receiver for Soledad was Aiden Raso.
The Aztecs have two away games remaining on the schedule. They will travel to Pacific Grove on Friday to play the Breakers, and complete the regular season on Nov. 7 in Salinas against Everett Alvarez.
