***click on HD1080 for best quality***
Like and Subscribe!
Follow the new IG page @MakMadeSports
/ makmadesports
/ makmademedia
/ makmademedia
A late fourth quarter drive ended at the 3-yard line Friday, as the Toreadores fell 26-18 to defending five-time Gabilan Division champion Salinas.
“I thought Monterey played their butts off,” said Salinas coach Steve Zenk, as he got on his bike to peddle home. “Sometimes you win games when you’re not sure you should have. Sometimes it comes down to the last play.”
Salinas has won quite often since Zenk took the program in 2018 as the Cowboys are 35-2 in the Gabilan Division with a no worse than a share of five consecutive titles.
Since dropping their first three games of the season to three teams ranked in their respective sections, the Cowboys have won four straight and are the only undefeated team remaining in the Gabilan with three left.
“It wasn’t our best effort,” Zenk said. “But we did enough to win. We shut them down in the second half. Instead of waiting, we were attacking on defense.”
Having put together three impressive drives in the first half behind quarterback Preston White and tailback Enobong Wirth, the Toreadores were held out of the end zone in the second half.
Yet, on its final drive Monterey went nearly 70 yards on 14 plays over the final 5:40 of the game, with Wirth grinding the ball for 45 of his 138 yards on the drive.
“We were giving up the week side run,” Zenk said. “I thought they did a good job on the drive in managing the clock and making sure we weren’t getting the ball back if they did score.”
Sitting at fourth-and-three, Besaw let the clock run down to three seconds before signaling for a time out and calling a play that put running back Soakai Funaki into the ‘Wildcat’ position.
The Toreadores put Funaki in the ‘Wildcat’ earlier in the game, in which the junior completed a pass on a designed roll out to keep a drive alive in the first half.
“It is a play we’ve worked on for a month,” Besaw said. “It just didn’t work out for us. I’m so proud of these kids. It was a great high school football game. These are losses where it’s a little easier pill to swallow.”
Having started the season 4-0, which included a win over Palma in its Gabilan Division opener, Monterey found itself searching for answers after being outscored 52-13 in its last two games against Soquel and Hollister.
The 52 points allowed by the Toreadores was more than they had given up in their first four wins.
Giving up a touchdown on Salinas’ opening drive put the Toreadores on their heels before having an offensive possession. Yet, what transpired was a pair of time-consuming drives that slowed the game down.
Wirth provided a handful of punishing runs for Monterey on its first two scoring drives, while White ran over a defender to keep a drive alive and reconnected with Kavon Collins and Kai Vaughns for clutch completions.
When White found Vaughns in the end zone, the Toreadores had a 12-7 lead. Wirth’s second touchdown of the game with 18 seconds left in the first half staked them to an 18-14 halftime lead.
“They did a good job of slowing the game down and limiting our touches,” Zenk said. “I thought we started to capitalize on their mistakes in the second half and played better run defense.”
Part of Cowboys second half resurgence occurred when the defense recorded a safety to cut the deficit to 18-16, setting the stage for the offense to regain its rhythm, resulting in Nolan Borel’s second rushing touchdown for their first lead.
“We were a little slow in the first half,” Zenk said. “Offensively, I felt we were waiting for someone else to make a play instead of going out and making a play.”
Boreal, who had touchdown runs of 35 and 12 yards, went over 100 yards rushing for the third time in his last four games, piling up 139 yards on 23 carries, while adding 33 receiving yards and a dozen tackles on defense.
White was efficient in throwing the ball for Monterey, with 15 of his 16 completions going to either Collins or Vaughns. White threw for 138 yards and added 62 yards on the ground.
“When you execute and you get beat, I can live with that,” Besaw said. “We went down swinging. Our offensive line played well tonight. I thought our attitude was great after the game. Now we have to carry this into the final three weeks of the season if we want to extend our season.”
Story by John Devine, Monterey Daily Herald
🌻Produced by Shak3n
🌻Sample Made by Shak3n
Негізгі бет Salinas vs Monterey 2023
Пікірлер: 6