In a battle between the top two teams in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League,
the Scotts Valley High School varsity football team fell in disappointing fashion to Aptos High School, 49-0 last weekend.
The Falcons fumbled six times, losing five of them, and combined with an interception, could not recover from the turnovers, in being outscored 42-0 by halftime.
“We executed in the first half on offense, defense and special teams,” said Aptos Head Coach Randy Blankenship, who lauded his team’s work ethic and preparation for the game.
Aptos improved to 5-2 including 3-0 in league, while the Falcons dropped to 5-2 including 1-1 in league.
The offensive onslaught began with 9:46 left in the first quarter when Aptos’s Eli Ungerecht slipped behind the defense for a 36-yard scoring reception from quarterback Alex Joh.
“They wanted to load up at the line, but we can throw the ball,” Blankenship said.
After a Scotts Valley punt, Aptos’ Michael Chavez slipped through the line untouched for a 49 yard touchdown run.
Scotts Valley punted again and Ungerecht plowed in from 13 yards out for his second touchdown, with 4:40 left in the first quarter.
“We made a lot of mental mistakes,” said senior lineman Simon Harris. “They were coming in off the bye-week and they gave us a lot of reads that we hadn’t seen.”
After a 10-play drive stalled and a punt gave the ball back to Aptos, Ungerecht promptly split the line for a 68-yard run down the Scotts Valley 5-yard line. He finished the drive with a 2-yard plunge for a 28-0 lead with 11:34 left in the second quarter.
It appeared like the Falcon’s had found some life on the next drive, but an 8-play drive promptly ended when running back Jake Rehnberg was hit and fumbled. Four plays later, Joh hit a wide-open Ungerech on a play-action pass for 58 yards and another touchdown and a 35-0 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, Falcon Willie Johnston’s injured hand was hit, and he fumbled the ball at the Falcon 26 yard line. Aptos methodically ran the ball in cumulated by a Brandon Pierce 5-yard scoring run for a 42-0 lead.
On the next possession, the Falcons attempted a hook-and-ladder play where Alex Turowski caught a short pass, but was hit while attempting to pitch it to Rehnberg, and Aptos recovered.
“They were better than us,” said Head Coach Louie Walters. “Everything that could go bad for us went bad, and everything that could go good for them went good.”
Aptos opened the second half with a 13-play, 5 minute, 59 second drive capped by a 9-yard Pierce touchdown run that capped the game’s scoring.
In the second half, Rehnberg had a 57-yard run, but Turowski was stripped after catching a pass at the 10-yard line. On another drive, the Falcons brought the ball down to the 7 yard line, where Rehnberg was slammed and fumbled to end the scoring opportunity.
Rehnberg continued a four-game string of 100-yard games, rushing for 125 yards on 22 carries. Usually potent utility player Willie Johnston caught two passes for 22 yards and rushed twice for 22 yards, while struggling through an injury to his hand throughout the contest.
Scotts Valley looks to get back on track at 2 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 2 at San Lorenzo Valley High School against valley rival San Lorenzo Valley High School.
