KING CITY — Two second-half touchdowns secured a 35-21 victory for the King City Mustangs football team over the host Pacific Grove Breakers last Friday night.
The Breakers held a 14-0 lead but the Mustangs fought back to earn their eighth straight win, and a game lead in the Mission South Division.
Mustang head coach Mac Villanueva was pleased with his team’s defensive efforts and big plays that kept King City undefeated.
“Started out rough,” Villanueva said. “We answered back pretty quick and got back in the game. We just told the players that we needed to execute our schemes and to trust in the process and in each other.”
Pacific Grove (2-1 in the Mission South and 4-4 overall) took the lead with an 83-yard scoring reception from Charlie Edmonds to Northrup Kirk and a point-after attempt. The Breaker lead grew to 14-0 under four minutes later after Kirk threw a 30-yard pass to Andrew Nimri. A second PAT by Kirk gave the host a 14-0 lead.
The Mustangs closed out the first quarter with an 80-yard touchdown run by Carson Tidwell and a PAT by Bryan Gonzales that cut the Pacific Grove advantage to 14-7. In the second quarter, the Mustangs forced a three and on the punt, RJ Ayon returned for a 75-yard touchdown. Gonzales missed on the PAT and the Mustangs trailed 14-13.
After stopping the Breakers again, King City took to the air and scored on a six-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Rocky Vasquez to JC Navarro. Gonzales was perfect on the PAT and the Mustangs took the lead at 21-14.
The lead did not last for long as Pacific Grove completed their scoring with a 43-yard touchdown pass from Edmonds to Nimri. The third PAT by Kirk tied the game at 21-21 as the first half ended.
The second half was all King City as the Mustangs took the lead for good with a six-yard touchdown pass from Vasquez to Kody Lambert and a PAT by Gonzales in the third quarter. In the final quarter, Ayon scored on a four-yard run to give his team a 34-21 lead. The fourth PAT by Gonzales ended the scoring at 35-21.
Tidwell finished the game with 210 yards on 20 carries and scored a touchdown. Vasquez had a 10-of-22 passing showing for 140 yards and threw two touchdown passes. Lambert led the King City receivers with six receptions for 104 yards. Navarro had four receptions for 36 yards.
With two games to go in the regular season, the Mustangs are 3-0 in Mission South Division and 8-0 overall. King City will host the 0-3 (1-7 overall) North Monterey County Condors on Friday at War Memorial Stadium.
On Saturday, Nov. 7, King City will play the Robert Louis Stevenson Pirates in Pebble Beach for the final game of the regular season. The Pirates are 2-1 in the Mission South and 5-3 overall.
SOLEDAD
The Soledad Aztecs lost 19-5 to the Stevenson Pirates on Saturday afternoon to fall to 1-2 in the Mission South and 2-6 overall.
In the first half, the Aztecs managed to score just two points on a safety by Nathaniel Flores in the second quarter and a 39-yard field goal by Juan Cisneros. The Pirates held the first-half lead at 7-5 with a 70-yard pass from quarterback Lincoln Clymo to Luke Potter.
“Our offense just couldn’t get anything going and then we lost our quarterback for a bit with a finger injury,” said Soledad head coach Eric Rodriguez. “We put in Daniel Garcia at quarterback from his running back position, but that hurt our running game.”
Soledad quarterback Calvin DeShazo returned late in the game, but the Aztecs offense was unable to keep a drive going. Stevenson closed out the Aztecs with a 35-yard pass from Clymo to Barak De La Rosa, and a four-yard touchdown pass from Clymo to Cody Thacher for the final 19-5 score.
The Aztecs will travel to Pacific Grove to play the Breakers on Friday night and complete the season by hosting the Everett Alvarez Eagles on Thursday, Nov. 5.
GREENFIELD
In a non-league game last Friday, the Greenfield Bruins traveled to San Jose and defeated the Lynbrook Vikings, 35-0. With a 28-point lead to end the first half, the last two quarters were played with a running clock.
“We feel really good as the guys are healthy and rolling in all three phases of the game,” said Greenfield head coach Adam Barsenas. “Our team scored with pass plays and the defense came up with three interceptions, including one interception that was returned for a touchdown by Ken Pajas.”
Quarterback Angel Gonzales was four-of-eight passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions and ran for 39 yards on two carries. Damian Martinez was the Bruins leading rusher with 49 yards on 10 carries. Travis Ryan rushed for 29 yards on four carries.
Martinez started the scoring with an 18-yard touchdown run and Ryan scored a two-yard rushing touchdown and a 15-yard pass play from Gonzales.
Pajas scored on the interception and on a 35-yard pass from Gonzales. Anthony Zuniga was successful on his five PATs.
Greenfield improved to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Santa Lucia Division. The Bruins will host the Santa Cruz Cardinals this Friday and complete the regular season on Nov. 5 in Salinas against Rancho San Juan.
GONZALES
The Gonzales Spartans fell to 0-6 in the Santa Lucia Division and 0-8 overall after a 33-0 setback to the Harbor Pirates on Saturday at Dick Force Stadium.
The Pirates leading rusher Hudson Bare finished with just 31 yards on four carries, but Bare scorched Gonzales for 339 passing yards and four touchdowns. Receiver Malik Woodson had five receptions for 185 yards and scored two touchdowns, including an 88-yard score in the first quarter.
Gonzales will have a bye week before completing the season at Santa Cruz High on Nov. 6.
