It took a late surge for San Lorenzo Valley to rally past Gonzales for a 22-8 win in Pacific Coast Athletic League Santa Lucia Division action Oct. 19.
The Cougars scored 15 points in the final nine minutes of the game en route to victory, and kept their unblemished record intact at 7-0.
“We knew going into the game that Gonzales would be a tough opponent and that their quarterback [Ray Blanco] is a good player that could create problems for us,” SLV head coach Dave Grant said. “At this point of the season every game will be a battle. We fell behind early in the second half but our team can recover and score points and play strong defense.”
SLV sophomore Justin Griffis led the Cougars with 123 rushing yards on 15 carries and senior quarterback Jack Dagan scored a pair of touchdowns. Defensively for the Cougars, Jacob Hardin and Haden Woolworth were standouts on Saturday evening.
Gonzales head coach Eddy Ramirez praised both his team and the play of San Lorenzo Valley.
“It was a close game, hard fought until the end,” Ramirez said. “SLV is a team that fought us for four quarters. Congrats to them on their win. I felt our team gave a good effort and we had a good game plan. Things just did not go our way.”
With the loss, Gonzales fell to 1-2 in league play and owns a 3-4 overall record, while the Cougars improved to 3-0 and sit atop of the Santa Lucia Division standings.
Ely Cisneros and Ray Blanco each had 70 rushing yards, and Blanco added 90 passing yards.
The game was scoreless until the final four minutes of the second quarter when Dagan scored an 8-yard rushing touchdown that gave SLV a 7-0 lead.
With time winding down in the first half, Dagan tossed an interception to Blanco, who also plays defensive back for the Spartans.
Early in the second half, the Spartans’ defense stopped SLV on a fourth down play. Moments later, Blanco called his own number and ran 35 yards deep into the Cougars’ territory.
With 4:25 remaining in the third quarter, Cisneros scored a 2-yard touchdown for Gonzales, which elected to go for the 2-point conversion. Cisneros ran the ball into the end zone yet again that gave the Spartans an 8-7 lead.
In the final stanza, Gonzales made another huge defensive stop and a crack to extend its lead.
Instead, SLV’s defense came through with a monstrous stop of its own as they stuffed Cisneros short of the first down marker on a fourth-and-inches play.
The Cougars then used the running ability of Griffiths and Dagan to get into Gonzales’ territory. The drive ended on a short touchdown by Dagan and the Cougars were successful on their 2-point conversion attempt to retake the lead at 15-8.
On its final possession, SLV came up with a clutch pass play for 70 yards from Dagan to Jordan Renteria. Then with less than three minutes remaining in the game, Riley Johnson capped off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run that sealed the deal.
SLV will try to keep things rolling during its homecoming game against Santa Cruz (1-7, 1-3) on Oct. 26, followed by a showdown for first place against Stevenson (5-2, 4-0) on Nov. 2. Both games are slated for 12:30pm.
Gonzales plays at Pajaro Valley (4-4, 3-1) on Oct. 26 at 12:30pm, followed by another road game at Marina on Nov. 1 at 7:30pm.
Correction: Justin Griffis’ name was misspelled as Justin Griffiths in a previous version of this story. Our sincere apologies.
