Salinas stretches league winning streak
Palma Chieftains cruise past Alvarez
SEASIDE >> The start was, well, typical. The finish was vintage Salinas High football.
Granted, when you're 5-0 for the first time in 42 years, there's little to complain about.
The Cowboys erupted for 28 points in the second half Thursday to secure a 42-0 win at Seaside.
“We had a talk at halftime,” Salinas coach Steve Zenk said. “I told them when you press, you get anxiety. Let's relax. Then I made them all dance. We loosened up and smiled. I said ‘OK let's do what we do.'”
Dating back to 2018, the reigning three-time Gabilan Division champions have rattled off 12 straight league wins and are 23-1 in the Gabilan Division since Zenk became the head coach.
“We are holding each other accountable,” Zenk said. “The 2017 team did a great job of that. The kids are starting to realize we're building something special. But there's a lot of football left in the season. There is room to improve.”
For the first time all year, Salinas was held scoreless in the first quarter.
“I thought Seaside came out, played hard and had a good game plan,” Zenk said. “It's a great lesson in humility. That's a team over there with a lot of pride and tradition. It's well-coached. You can't just show up.”
Quarterback Adam Shaffer accounted for three touchdowns, including a 42
yard run to open the floodgates in the second half.
Posting its first shutout since Oct. 19 of 2018, Salinas held an opponent scoreless in the second half for the third time this year, using a 28-yard pick-six from linebacker Jacob Vega to blow the game open.
Josiah Garnica called his own number on a 23-yard touchdown run to get Salinas on the scoreboard. Christopher Carreon capped the scoring with his first touchdown of the season.
Palma 41, Alvarez 7
For the fifth time this year, the Chieftains went over the 40-point barrier, scoring the game’s first 41 points.
“We had 10 different players touch the ball,” Palma coach Jeff Carnazzo said. “We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish. Our tempo was good. We wanted to work on our depth.”
Palma has outscored its last two opponents 9621, producing 41 points in the first 29 minutes of the game, as it made its final tune-up before facing longtime nemesis San Benito next Friday.
Jumping out to a big lead on the strength of two rushing touchdowns in the first quarter from JoJo Cardinale enabled Carnazzo to test his depth, as he inserted backup quarterback Matthew Fuqua midway through the second quarter.
Fuqua, who came into the game having completed 6-of-7 passes for two touchdowns, doubled that total, connecting with Caesar Aldisert and Logan Saldate for touchdown passes.
Santa Cruz 54, Carmel 14
No program has struggled more in its recovery from COVID than Carmel’s. The Padres continue to work their way back after a three-week hiatus, falling to undefeated Santa Cruz.
Carmel is 1-2 since returning to the field after COVID protocols forced the cancelation of two nonleague games in September.
“I was proud of our kids’ effort,” Carmel coach Golden Anderson said. “We are improving each week. Our defense played very hard and got us stops early in the game that we were not able to capitalize on.”
The Padres defense had two goal-line stands that forced the 6-0 Cardinals to settle for field goals.
Carmel’s offense, however, sputtered against a talented Cardinals defense, as it was shut out in the first half — that first time that has occurred since 2008.
King City 7, Watsonville 0
It’s been nearly four decades since the Mustangs started a season 5-0.
The Mustangs defense, which has not allowed a point in their last 10 quarters, is putting together a magical year with their third shutout of the season.
Coming off the edge, Sebastian Garcia added two more sacks to his resume, giving him nine on the season, while Ivan Lizardi and Noah Pacheco have been the heart of a deep unit.
Scoreless for three quarters, King City cracked the Wildcatz defense when quarterback Jjey Martinez connected with Alexis Dedios on a 2-yard touchdown pass with 3:10 left.
North Salinas 40, Gonzales 7
Starring at an early deficit, North Salinas responded by running off 34 unanswered points for their third win in their last four games.
“A good team doesn’t just show up,” North Salinas coach Ben Ceralde said. “You play together through adversity. As long as you keep fighting as a team, you’ll work toward that goal.”
Jesus Organista rushed for a pair of touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass from Adan Perez to ignite a 34-0 run for the Vikings
Gabe Mendez gave Gonzales (0-6) an early 7-6 led when he caught a 60-yard touchdown pass from Juan Pablo Ayala.
Alisal 21, Monte Vista 6
The Trojans used a pair of touchdowns from Christian Campos to erase a sixpoint deficit to pick up their first Gabilan Division win and keep their postseason hopes alive.
“We treated it like a playoff game,” Chaidez said. “It wasn’t just one player. We had 25 guys step up. Hopefully, we’ll have 25 on Monday. It’s gonna be like that for the rest of the year.”
Gilroy 21, Soledad 20
Electing to go for the win rather than playing for a tie and the potential of overtime, first-year Soledad coach Jose Martinez called for a two-point conversation attempt.
Woodside Priory 58, Trinity 14
The Warriors fell from the unbeaten ranks in league play on the road to state-ranked Woodside Priory in 8-man football.
Tony Bruce had a 60yard touchdown run in the first half for Trinity, while Amado Reese returned a kickoff 79 yards for six in the second half.
Stevenson 43, Greenfield 27
Evan Johnson had seven catches, five for touchdowns in Stevenson’s win.
“Anytime we can get the ball into his hands, that’s our main goal from an offensive perspective,” Stevenson coach Kyle Cassamas said. “It is our job to adjust and get Evan the ball to where he can make something happen.”
Johnson, who came into the game with six touchdowns in his first three games, went over 100 receiving yards for the third time with 187 yards. The senior was on the receiving end of touchdown passes of 48, 25, 20, 34 and 66 yards from Kyle McTamaney.
Johnson also threw a 42year touchdown pass to Thomas Lansbury.
A pair of touchdowns from Alonso Barcenas — who went over 100 yards rushing — in the first half had Greenfield within a point of the Pirates to open the third quarter.
Rancho San Juan 17, SLV 14
Players for Rancho San Juan stormed the field Saturday, mobbing kicker Steve Araujo after the senior sent a 39-yard field goal through the uprights as time expired for the win.
“These kids have worked their tails off the last three years to put themselves in a position to compete,” Rancho San Juan coach Troy Emrey said. “It is still a work in progress. We’re still young and inexperienced. But we’re growing as a program.”
Two weeks after capturing the program’s first-ever win, the Trailblazers have their first-ever road win, avoiding overtime after Araujo calmly kicked the game-winner.
The Trailblazers also scored first for the first time in their brief history when Carlos Rodezno had a short touchdown run in the first half to give them a 7-0 lead. Peyton Hatten’s touchdown run gave them a brief 14-7 advantage in the second half.
Defensively the Trailblazers created three turnovers with Fabian Ceja intercepting a pass, and John Wood and Andre Nevarez recovering fumbles.
Marina 41, Harker 26
If it’s the only varsity football game the Mariners get this season, it was memorable as they used four touchdowns from JJ Guevara to post their first win in nearly two years.
After not playing last year because of the pandemic, Marina elected not to field a varsity program this year, choosing instead to just field a junior varsity team because most of its players were underclassmen.
Guevara had two rushing touchdowns and was on the receiving end of a Max Ramirez scoring toss in the first half. He also returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown in the second half.
Sean Irving and Xavier Wells also had touchdown runs for the Mariners, whose last varsity win came on Oct. 25 of 2019.
Soquel 21, Monterey 20
Monterey’s frantic second-half comeback came up short on a failed two-point conversation.
Monterey spotted the Knights 21 points in the first half as turnovers and penalties grounded the offense.
A blocked punt in the second half opened the door for Monterey. The first of two touchdowns from Ethan Del Rosario got them back in the game in the fourth quarter.
When the Toreadores defense pounced on a fumble, quarterback Matthew Gallagher responded, hitting Jkai Thomas on a 43-yard touchdown pass with 3:10 left in the game.
Thomas has scored at least one touchdown in all six of Monterey’s (4-2) games this fall.
Rather than play for the tie, the Toreadores elected to go for two, where Soquel made a stop to remain undefeated in the Mission Division at 3-0.