Monterey Bay Prep Report Article

Friday, October 11, 2002
San Lorenzo Valley At Scotts Valley	07:30pm
Live Oak At Alisal	07:30pm
Carmel At Aptos	07:30pm
Stevenson At Pacific Grove	07:30pm
North Salinas At Seaside	07:30pm
Hollister At Monterey	07:30pm
Soledad At King City	07:30pm
Watsonville At Santa Cruz	07:30pm
Greenfield At Gonzales	07:30pm

Saturday, October 12, 2002
Salinas At Monte Vista Christian	02:00pm
Palma At North County	02:00pm
Gilroy At Alvarez	02:00pm
Harbor At Soquel	02:00pm

Friday's Games

San Lorenzo Valley (4-0) At Scotts Valley (4-1)

Game Time:	7:30	Location:	S.V. High
Last Year
San Lorenzo Valley cruised to a 44-0 victory in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. SLV's Loren Jenson scored 3 touchdowns via a 68 yard interception return, a 85 yard kickoff return, and a 52 yard touchdown run. SLV extended its SCCAL unbeaten streak to 35 games.
Notes

San Lorenzo Valley (currently ranked #4 in the SJ Mercury Coaches Poll, #5 in the state in Div. III by Cal-Hi) is riding a 41 game Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League unbeaten streak. The Falcons face their second straight unbeaten league opponent. Two of the top passers in the area will be on display: Scott's Valley's Andrew Wick (#1 in the area) has thrown for 932 yards and 13 touchdowns, while SLV's Mike Crisler (#3 in the area) has thrown for 563 yards and 7 touchdowns, with 5 of those touchdowns coming in the last two games. The San Lorenzo Valley defense has not allowed a touchdown pass this year, and has only allowed three rushing touchdowns in four games.

Live Oak (0-3-1) At Alisal (1-3)

Game Time:	7:30	Location:	Alisal High
Last Year
Alisal picked up its second win of the season with a 20-13 first-ever victory over Live Oak. Tied 13-13 late in the 4th quarter, Alisal quarterback Johnny Mariscal scampered 8 yards with 1:58 remaining on the clock for the game-winning touchdown.
Notes

Alisal quarterback Johnny Mariscal has thrown for 486 yards and four touchdowns, and also is the team's leading rusher with 120 yards on 31 carries. Since being handed the starting job in week two, Live Oak quarterback Orin Catrett has thrown for 528 yards and 5 touchdowns. This game features two of the top receivers in the area: Alisal's Marco Macias has hauled in 14 passes for 273 yards (#2 in the area), and Steven Connor of Live Oak has 15 catches for 234 yards (#4 in the area).

Carmel (4-0) At Aptos (4-0)

Game Time:	7:30	Location:	Aptos High
Last Year
Teams did not play.
Notes

This game should be quite a showdown, featuring Carmel's top-ranked offense (382 ypg) vs. Aptos' #2 ranked defense (183 ypg). Carmel has scored 167 points this season - Aptos has surrendered only 26. Aptos unleashed a new weapon last weekend - Watsonville transfer and 2001 All-SCCAL running back Max McCoy. In his Mariner debut, McCoy rushed for 99 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. Carmel running back Chris Brown had quite a day himself; the standout Padre back racked up 249 rushing yards and three touchdowns against Stevenson.

Stevenson (1-4) At Pacific Grove (1-3)

Game Time:	7:30	Location:	Pacific Grove High
Last Year
Pacific Grove wide out Phil Shin returned a punt for a touchdown and also threw for a touchdown in a 34-6 victory over host Stevenson. The Breaker defense limited Stevenson to 30 yards rushing on 28 carries.
Notes

Pacific Grove is ranked 4th to last in the area in total yards from scrimmage (741), but hopes to get healthy against Stevenson, ranked last in the area in yards allowed (1441). Stevenson surrendered 460 yards to Carmel just last week. Two years ago Stevenson went undefeated in league to claim the MTAL title; last season Pacific went undefeated in league to claim the MTAL title. With a combined record of 2-7, neither team has been able to live up to those lofty standards.

North Salinas (2-2) At Seaside (2-2)

Game Time:	7:30	Location:	Seaside High
Last Year
Teams did not play.
Notes

Expect hard some hitting and explosive offense when these two teams hook horns Friday night. North Salinas running back Ronnie Drummer has rushed for 323 yards and 4 touchdowns in his last two games, and the Vikings have already returned two kickoffs for touchdowns (both over 85 yards). All 8 of North Salinas' offensive touchdowns have come on the ground, with Drummer racking up touchdown runs of 38, 26, 31, 44 and 65 yards. Seaside has also returned a kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown

Hollister (1-2-1) At Monterey (0-4)

Game Time:	7:30	Location:	Monterey Peninsula College
Last Year
Hollister scored early and often in a 55-28 victory over Monterey. The two teams combined for over 800 yards of total offense. Eleven Baler ball carries amassed 429 yards on the ground, with 6 different rushers scoring touchdowns. Trent Young (179 yards/2 TD) and Steve Saucedo (119 yards/1 TD) both had huge nights for the Balers.
Notes

Hollister received some bad news after last week's loss to Seaside - starting quarterback Gordon Ross may be lost for the rest of the season with a torn pectoral muscle. The Hollister Freelance is reporting that wingback Lee Osborne will take over quarterbacking duties. Freelance Sports Editor John Reid details the rash of injuries the Balers have suffered this season: Clay Peer, the team's top offensive lineman, has a strained MCL; linebacker Robert Pickett is out with a PCL strain; receiver Matt Leal is out with a broken collarbone, and offensive tackle J.D. Clapham is recovering from a dislocated knee.

Soledad (1-3) At King City (2-2)

Game Time:	7:30	Location:	King City High
Last Year
Erik Salto rushed for 155 yards and a touchdown and Michael Ledesma punched in 3 short touchdown runs as the Aztecs powered to a 34-18 victory over King City.
Notes

Soledad has scored 3 points in the last eight quarters, and has been shut out for six consecutive quarters. After rushing for 238 yards and 3 touchdowns vs. Notre Dame-Riverside three weeks ago, Aztec running back Danny Plascencia has been held to just 35 yards in his last two games. Making his debut at running back for King City last week, J.D. Lisk rushed for 175 yards and 3 touchdowns vs. Greenfield.

Watsonville (4-0) At Santa Cruz (2-2)

Game Time:	7:30	Location:	Santa Cruz High
Last Year
Trailing 10-7, Watsonville rallied for 23 unanswered points in a 33-10 homecoming victory over Santa Cruz. Watsonville quarterback Mel Martinez tossed a 64 yard touchdown to Richard Rodriguez, and also scored on a keeper late in the 4th quarter.
Notes

Watsonville leads the area in points scored (173), and also in fewest points allowed (22). Catz running back Shawn Benjamin leads all area players with 11 rushing touchdowns, and total scoring with 66 points. Benjamin is averaging 8.6 yards per carry. Santa Cruz ranks second to last in rushing defense (866 yards allowed in 4 games). The Watsonville defense has forced 14 turnovers.

Greenfield (1-3) At Gonzales (3-1)

Game Time:	7:30	Location:	Gonzales High
Last Year
A Peter Maturino 8 yards scoring run with 3:53 remaining in the game carried Gonzales to a 21-18 victory at Greenfield. A Greenfield punt block for a touchdown had put Greenfield up 18-13 early in the 4th quarter. Gonzales intercepted 3 Bruin passes in the game.
Notes

Gonzales features the area's top-ranked rushing attack, averaging 265 yards on the ground per game. Gonzales is also surrendering just under 100 rushing yards per game, also tops in the area. Greenfield receiver Joel Tuosto snared 5 catches for 175 yards and 3 touchdowns last week in a loss to King City.

Saturday's Games

Salinas (3-1) At Monte Vista Chr. (3-1)

Game Time:	2:00	Location:	MVC High
Last Year
Notes

Salinas (currently ranked #6 in the SJ Mercury Coaches Poll) hopes to rebound from a stunning defeat handed to them last week by Alvarez. Just two weeks ago Mitty was ranked #2 in the CCS, and Salinas was right behind them at #3 heading into the huge preseason game at the PIT. Since that hard-fought battle (won by the Cowboys), both teams seem to have suffered similar letdowns last week: Salinas lost 32-20 to Alvarez (0-2-1), and Mitty lost 7-6 to unranked St. Ignatius (2-2). MVC turned a few heads last week with a 20-7 victory over Gilroy.

Palma (4-0) At North County (0-3-1)

Game Time:	2:00	Location:	NMC High
Last Year
Palma scored 14 first quarter points and held on for a 20-6 victory over visiting North Monterey County. The hard hitting but somewhat sloppily-played game saw both teams combine for 8 turnovers. North County running back Reggie Doucet accounted for all of the Condor 's points with a 71 yard touchdown burst late in the third quarter.
Notes

Palma (currently ranked #1 in the SJ Mercury Coaches Poll, #14 in the state and #4 in NorCal by Cal-Hi) faces a North County team that is actually 2-1-1 on the field. Condor running backs Reggie Doucet (373 yards) and Armando Rodriguez (371 yards) are ranked #6 and #7 in the area in rushing. The Chieftains have 6 running backs with 100 or more yards rushing.

Gilroy (1-3) At Alvarez (1-2-1)

Game Time:	2:00	Location:	Alvarez High
Last Year
With just 1:20 remaining in the game, Gilroy held the ball and a 14-10 lead. Unable to get a key first down to keep the clock running, the Mustangs were forced to punt. With little time remaining in the game, just getting the off a clean punt would likely have sealed a Gilroy victory. Alvarez's Jonathan Trafton broke through the Mustang line to block, recover and return the football for a touchdown and a 17-14 Eagle lead. 24 points were scored in the last 2:40 of the game. On the Mustang's next offensive play, Galen Perry intercepted and returned an errant pass 30 yards for a 24-14 Alvarez lead. With 0:28 seconds remaining, Gilroy's Isaac Gonzales took a swing pass 72 yards to make the score 24-21. Alvarez recovered the ensuing Gilroy onside kick and ran out the clock. The win set up a showdown the following week between Alvarez (5-0-1) and Palma (6-0) for first place in the MBL.
Notes

Alvarez (currently ranked #15 in the SJ Mercury Coaches Poll) seems to have turned their season around with a 32-20 win over unbeaten Salinas last week; the Cowboys were ranked #2 at the time in the CCS. Both Gilroy and Alvarez began the season ranked in the CCS Top 15, but stumbled badly out of the gate with some very lopsided losses. Gilroy has been especially vulnerable through the air - the Mustang's have already given up 10 passing touchdowns this season, after surrendering only 10 touchdown passes in all of 2001.

Harbor (2-2) At Soquel (1-3)

Game Time:	2:00	Location:	Soquel High
Last Year
Harbor romped to a 42-26 homecoming victory over Soquel. Harbor's Ivan Lopez intercepted two passes, returning one 48 yards for a touchdown, and also rushed for 110 yards on 14 carries.
Notes

This will likely be the only chance for either team to pick up a league win. Soquel ranks last in the area in points scored (35), and has surrendered an area-worst 1040 yards rushing in four games. Rushing the ball is not a Harbor strong suite - the Pirates have managed an area-worst 193 yards this season (45 yards per game). Standout Harbor receiver Tim Chau hopes to return to action this week after sitting out last game with a concussion.