San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Mustangs’ Gutierrez leads team to rebound victory
A week after dropping its first game of the season to Harlan, Jay rebounded Friday night with a 28-21 win over District 29-6A rival Taft at Gustafson Stadium.
“When two unbeaten teams play each other (as Harlan and Jay did last week), somebody’s going to lose,” Jay coach Gary Gutierrez said. “Losing a game to an unbeaten team doesn’t mean what you did before doesn’t work anymore or that you’re not a good team. You just came up short. After (the 42-33 loss to Harlan), we talked about wanting to finish strong. Finish the regular season strong and take what momentum we can into the postseason.”
Jay (8-1, 6-1) closes its regular season Thursday at 7 p.m. against Brennan (6-2, 5-1) at Gustafson Stadium. Meanwhile Taft (6-3, 5-2), which had a five-game winning streak snapped with the loss, finishes with district front-runner Harlan (9-0, 7-0) on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Farris Stadium.
“We’ve been playing our butts off,” said Jay quarterback Jackson Gutierrez, who had 209 yards of total offense and accounted for two touchdowns for the Mustangs. “But I still don’t think we’ve hit our peak yet. Losing (to Harlan) was tough, but it was good to get a win over a team like Taft. Playing teams like them and Brennan (next week) will help us get ready for the playoffs.”
Both teams scored on their opening drives of the game. Taft quarterback Johnie Lott had a 1-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-goal to finish off a 16-play, 75-yard drive to put the Raiders ahead, 7-0, but a 64-yard touchdown pass from Gutierrez to Diego Quiroz on the Mustangs’ subsequent possession tied the game at 7 with 3:27 to go in the first quarter.
Following a Taft punt, Jay took the lead on a 20yard touchdown run by Jayden Pritchett midway through the second quarter, but Taft replied with an eight-play, 75-yard drive to tie things up, 14-14, after a 7yard touchdown run by Prometheus Elmore with 1:49 left in the period.
However, the Mustangs got a big score just before halftime, as Jay drove 75 yards in 11 plays and Gutierrez finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run with just 9 seconds to go, sending Jay into the locker room with a 21-14 lead at the break.
“That touchdown definitely was a big change in the momentum of the game,” Jackson Gutierrez said. “Then to score again on the first drive of the second half really helped us and gave us some confidence.”
Jay started the second half with a 12-play, 90-yard march that took 5:37 off the clock before Jack Mota scored on a 1-yard run to put the Mustangs up, 28-14, with 6:23 to go in the third quarter. After the teams traded punts, Taft got to within 28-21 when Lott kept it himself for a 2-yard touchdown run and the Raiders were within one score with 9:21 still to go in the fourth quarter.
The Raiders forced Jay to punt on the Mustangs’ next possession and Taft took over on its own 22-yard line with 6:29 remaining. With one chance to tie the game, Taft drove to just past midfield before surrendering the ball on downs and Jay was able to run out the final 2:23 and emerge with the victory.
“Our defense got stops when we needed them to and our offensive line controlled things and we were able to control the ball,” Gary Gutierrez said. “We have a lot of players who play both ways, so we try to limit the snaps and manage the game. Tonight, we were able to do that.”
Jay, which is headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2017, has now won two straight games over Taft and leads the alltime series (20-16), which dates back to 1986.
Jackson Gutierrez had 15 carries for 75 yards and a touchdown and went 11for-18 passing for 134 yards and another touchdown. Mota had 98 yards and a score on his 17 carries and Dylan Gordon hauled in six passes for 53 yards for the Mustangs.
Taft, which was hurt by being flagged 11 times for 98 yards in the game, was led by Lott, who had 78 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries along with 12-for-18 passing for another 168 yards through the air.
Elmore added 90 yards and a touchdown on his 21 carries and Jayden Aleman (7 catches, 82 yards) and Mathew Stephenson (4 catches, 48 yards) did the heavy lifting for the Raiders’ receiving corps.