The glistening Prune Bowl
trophy was prominently placed on the Hollister sidelines as a reminder
to the upstart Gilroy Mustangs as to who reigned supreme in this MBL
rivalry. A capacity crowd filled both sides of the stadium with an
enthusiastic buzz of anticipation. Both teams came into the game with
something to prove. Hollister seemed to have put an embarrassing loss
to Alvarez behind them with a blowout win over Monterey, and wanted to
show that they were still the team to beat in the MBL. Just last
season Gilroy had rolled up a 5-0 record before facing the elite teams
in the MBL, losing 3 of their last 5 games to Palma, Alvarez and
Hollister and stumbling into the playoffs. Again this season Gilroy
had marched undefeated through its first four games against teams with
a combined 2-14 record - a win over Hollister would legitimize the
Mustangs as a true contender for the MBL title. Gilroy did just that
with a 37-21 romp over the Balers in a game dominated by the Mustangs
on all fronts. Gilroy running back J.L. Mangono was unstoppable,
breaking tackle after tackle and shredding a usually fierce Hollister
run defense for 201 yards rushing and 3 TD's. The Gilroy defense
completely shut down 2000 league MVP Nick Buzzetta, limiting him to 6
yards rushing and 13 yards passing, including two interceptions that
led to Gilroy touchdowns. The game was not as close as the score
indicated, with Gilroy holding a 37-7 lead with 9:49 remaining in the
game. Two late Hollister touchdowns made the final result
respectable.
Gilroy (5-0) now turns its attention to Friday's showdown with undefeated
defending CCS D1 champion Palma (5-0). The Palma offense has struggled the
last two weeks against teams manhandled by Gilroy. Gilroy beat North
Salinas 35-7; Palma beat them 14-7. Gilroy beat Alisal 48-6; Palma
only beat them 28-7. Big advantage for Gilroy, right? Well, maybe not.
No team has historically prepared and delivered in big games more than
Palma, the most storied program in the southern CCS. In the last 4
years Palma has lost only three games, and that was by a combined
total of 17 points, never by more than a touchdown. No doubt Gilroy
has the coaching, talent and leadership to win this game, but history
says it will take a flawless performance to do it. With both teams
running "the fly" offense, there should be little mystery
involved preparing for the game.
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Week 5 Notes and
Key Stats |
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Talk about a
tough league - half of the teams in the MBL came into play
last week ranked in the CCS Top 15 by the San Jose
Mercury. That is 5 of the top 15 slots in a CCS section with
90+ member schools. With so many ranked teams, every week
now features marquee games between elite squads. Palma (#2),
Alvarez (#5), Hollister (#7), Gilroy (#12), and Salinas
(#15) are all ranked, and amazingly only 3 of the 10
match-ups between these teams have been played. That changes
this weekend, as Palma travels to Gilroy Friday night and
Salinas High travels to Alvarez Saturday for games that have
huge MBL title and CCS ranking implications.
Look for Salinas and Gilroy to again move up in the CCS
rankings this week, and for Hollister to move down with its
loss to Gilroy.
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- 49er Jeff Garcia stood on
the sidelines supporting his alma mater Gilroy High as the
Mustangs battled Hollister for the Prune Bowl trophy. Garcia
stood patiently and signed autographs for fans from both
teams - truly a class act. Garcia's former center, retired
49er Chris Dalman, will be on the Palma sidelines next week
coaching against Garcia's Mustangs.
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- Carmel can attribute much
of its early season success to an improved running game. The
Padres gained a meager 691 rushing yards last season.
Against Greenfield last week Carmel rushed for 221
yards; close to a third of last season's total rushing
output. On defense, Carmel allowed a staggering 286 yards
rushing per game last season, but have dramatically improved
this season by dropping that to 115 yards per
game. Defensive standouts Tim Covington and
Robby Lamvik have made things very difficult for
opposing offenses. Lamvik
had two sacks and forced fumbles in last week's 35-0 win
over Greenfield.
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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.
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Week 5 By
The Numbers |
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803 |
Passing
yards racked up by Stevenson quarterback Chris Jackson through 5
games. |
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404 |
Combined
rushing and passing yards for Carmel's Toby McLeod and Pat
Johnston. McLeod rushed for 209 yards and 2 touchdowns, and
Johnston passed for 195 yards and 3 touchdowns in Carmel's 35-0 shellacking
of Greenfield. |
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201 |
Rushing
yards piled up by Gilroy's J.L. Mangono in a 37-21 romp of
Hollister. Mangono also scored 3 rushing TD's in the game. |
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111 |
Points surrendered
by Monterey High in their last two games. |
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48 |
Points
surrendered by Alvarez this season. Carmel (45 pts) actually
leads this category, but has only played 4 games. |
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5 |
Number
of touchdown's accumulated by Palma sophomore's Luke Lippincott
and Ryan Hastie. In a program that rarely brings sophomores up
to the varsity, the pair are 2 of the top 4 scorers for the
undefeated Chieftains. |
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4 |
Number
of touchdowns scored by Andy Palacio in Salinas' 56-14 thumping
of Monterey. Palacio was a one-man wrecking crew, hauling in two
TD passes, rushing for a TD, and returning an interception for a
TD. |
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3 |
Number
of shutouts posted last week. Carmel (35-0), Alvarez (19-0), and
Soledad (16-0). |
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1 |
Number
of passing yards gained by North County against the Alvarez
defense. Alvarez limited the Condors to 71 total yards of
offense. |
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