Monterey Bay Prep Report Article

Who would of thought it at the beginning of the season - Carmel undefeated at 3-0 after knocking off preseason favorite Soledad in their MTAL league opener? Congratulations go out to coach Craig Johnson and the Padre football program. After losing 14 straight games the previous two years, Carmel now sits atop the MTAL standings at 1-0. Granted, it is early in the season, but Carmel thus far has to be the most surprising team in the area. Two factors have turned the Padre program around - defense and turnovers. Through three games last season, the Carmel defense had allowed a whopping 1161 total yards - 940 yards rushing and 221 yards passing. The Padres had also committed 7 turnovers with 4 fumbles and 3 interceptions. That's not a recipe for success. But what a difference a year can make. Through three games this season, the Carmel defense has allowed only 726 total yards, and only 380 yards on the ground. That is 560 fewer yards allowed in the first three Carmel games. As a comparison, Hollister allowed only 989 rushing yards for the entire 2000 season, including the playoffs. Carmel has also turned the ball over just once - tops in the area. The accurate passing of sophomore quarterback Pat Johnston has also opened up the Padre running game. Toby McLeod has already racked up 239 rushing yards, and his 5 rushing touchdowns already puts him ahead of last year's total of 4.

Alvarez continues its season of firsts. The Eagles are currently ranked #5 in the CCS by the San Jose Mercury, the highest ranking in their program's short history. Wins over Hollister and Live Oak the last two weeks were also Alvarez firsts. Only Palma and Monterey remain as the two MBL teams Alvarez has never beaten.

Week 4 Notes and Key Stats

Just to let everyone know, there are two important links on every sport home page - Team Statistical Rankings and Area Leaders, located in the upper right corner. The Team Statistical Rankings page sorts various offensive and defensive statistics for all teams. The Area Leaders page displays the top 40 offensive leaders in various categories related to a particular sport. Each team sport page has a Season Stats link that shows statistics for all players on the team. The "Stat Spotlight" tables located on each sport/team page only shows the top 7-10 leaders in each category.

With the return of their starting quarterback Nick Buzzetta , the Balers rolled to an impressive 55-28 victory over Monterey. Hollister running back Trenton Young rushed for 179 yards, vaulting him to the area rushing lead with 461 yards.

Seaside is a spectacular +12 in turnovers so far this year - by far the best in the area. This has a direct correlation to the fact that the Spartan defense has allowed the second fewest points in the area - 41.

North Salinas was held to 80 yards rushing last week against Palma, but that tripled (to 120) the total rushing yards gained by the Vikings this season. Credit Palma's defensive line for pestering North Salinas quarterback Matt McKinstry all night, sacking him multiple times for 25 yards in losses. Anthony Toste (2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Erik Prader (1 sack, 1 fumble recovery) and Diego Placido (1 sack) had a big night for the Chieftains. The trio combined for 10 tackles for losses in the game (thanks Andy).

Gilroy (4-0) faces its first real test of the season this week when the Mustangs travel to Hollister to take on the Balers. The combined record of Mustang opponents so far this season is just 2-14. A win in Hollister would show that the Mustang's are a serious MBL title contender.

The big MTAL game this week again involves Soledad - the Aztecs travel to Seaside to take on the Spartans. With the likelihood that the MTAL will only place two teams in the playoffs this year, a loss by Soledad would all but dash any Aztec hopes for a postseason playoff berth.

Week 4 By The Numbers
795	Rushing yards allowed by Hollister this season. The Balers only surrendered 989 yards all of last season.
711	Number of total yards (453 rush, 258 pass) allowed by the Alvarez defense this season, the lowest in the area.
165	Rushing yards gained by Palma against North Salinas, their lowest total of the year.
55	Number of points scored by Hollister in their home opener vs. Monterey, the highest point total in the area this year.
38	Points scored by Palma running back Nick Noroian, (6 TD's, 2 point conversion), tops in the area.
11	Number of touchdowns scored by Gilroy running backs J.L Mangono and Isaiah Gonzales - the top scoring tandem in the area.
5	Number of turnovers committed by Stevenson in their 26-20 loss to Gonzales.
4	Number of CCS ranked teams 0-4 North Salinas has lost to this season (SLV #6, Gilroy #12, Alvarez #5, Palma #2).
3	Number of touchdowns (2 passing and 1 rushing) accounted for by Salinas High quarterback Thomas Incaviglia in the Cowboy's win over North County.
2	Number of 40+ yard field goals kicked in the Live Oak/Alvarez game last weekend. Daniel Torres (Alvarez/40 yards) and Fabian Iglesias (Live Oak/43 yards) both cleared the goal posts with kicks that would have been good from at least 50 yards.