Week 2 sees Alvarez pulls off the biggest victory in their brief football
history with a 32-19 thumping of Hollister, who according to Cal-Hi sports was
the #9 ranked team in Northern California . This can't exactly be called a major
upset; Alvarez is definitely a quality team. But this win puts Alvarez on the
map, and it is their first victory over a league "heavyweight", having
never previously beaten Hollister or Palma at the varsity level. Alvarez always
has a hard-nosed defense, but what has been impressive is their balanced
offensive attack. Last year Alvarez only twice threw for over 100 yards - the
Eagles have thrown for 100 yards in both of their first two games. Alvarez
quarterback Manuel Miranda has shown a lot of poise since inheriting the
starting job this season, taking advantage of his passing opportunities to throw
for 2 touchdowns and 219 passing yards. Throw in the fact that Alvarez returns
its entire starting offensive line from last season, and its backs have already
run for 581 yards, and you have the ingredients for a very good football team.
In what may be the biggest game of the year thus far, 2-0 Palma rolls into
"the pit" to face 2-0 Salinas in an early season MBL showdown. RaChard
Williams of Salinas leads all area rushers with 287 yards and 3 touchdowns on 33
carries - an average of 8.6 yards per carry. Salinas High leads all teams with
682 rushing yards, but also has the 5th worse passing yardage with just 75
yards. The Palma defense has allowed only 200 yards rushing on the season thus
far - second only to Gilroy. Where Palma has been susceptible is in the air -
but much of that may have to do with teams trying to rally from significant deficits.
This should be a sold out dandy for South Salinas bragging rights.
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Week 2 Notes and
Key Stats |
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- Gilroy star quarterback
Jesus Gaona suffered a broken ankle in the Mustang opener
vs. Mission San Jose. Gaona may be lost for the season. All
his replacement, Henry Quistian, has done in his first
two appearances is go 14 - 17 passing for 268 yards and 3
touchdowns.
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- Also on the injury list is
Pacific Grove's Trevor Howell, who apparently may have
suffered a broken wrist in P.G.'s opening season loss to
Salinas. His status is still unknown.
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- Congratulations are in
order to the Carmel High football program. Having lost its
previous 14 games, the padres have reeled off 2 straight
victories to start the 2001 campaign. Sophomore Pat Johnson
leads all area quarterbacks with 300 yards passing.
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- Let's all hope that Salinas
High opens more than one ticket booth for Friday night's
game vs. Palma - virtually guaranteed to be a sellout. The
30-40 minute lines waiting to get in to the half-filled
stadium in the opener vs. Pacific Grove had plenty of folks
fuming.
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- The King City offense has
yet to get untracked, having been kept out of the end zone
in their first two games. King City's lone score came off a
30 yard field goal from Haakan Solberg in the second quarter
of Saturday's contest in Morro Bay. King City has so far
been held scoreless in 7 of its 8 quarters of play.
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Week 2 By
The Numbers |
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400 |
Number of yards
being averaged per game by the Alvarez offense. |
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275 |
Combined penalty
yards in the Hollister/Alvarez game. |
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35 |
Points scored by
the much-improved Alisal offense - already surpassing last
year's season total of 27 points. |
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33 |
Number of losses in
a row for Alisal, the longest current losing streak in the
state. Good news for Alisal - they are much improved and should
get that win soon. |
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31 |
Number penalty
flags dropped in the Hollister/Alvarez game. |
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14 |
Total passing yards
gained by the Seaside offense so far this season. |
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9 |
Combined passing
yards amassed in the Seaside/Aptos game. |
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4 |
Number of rushing
yards allowed by Gilroy in their game with North Salinas. |
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