Aptos turned some heads during its improbable run in the Central Coast Section playoffs after it pulled off back-to-back stunning wins to reach last week’s Division III championship game.
However, the storybook tale came to a close after the No. 7 seed Mariners fell short in a 62-35 loss to top seed Carmel in front of hundreds of fans at Rabobank Stadium in Salinas on Nov. 29.
Despite the loss, senior Ryan Solorio was still thrilled at how deep the Mariners—who placed fourth in the Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan Division—went into the postseason.
He said several critics never expected them to play in the finals, yet he knew they’d be able to compete with the best of them. Aptos upsetted two of the top seeds in No. 2 Willow Glen and No. 3 Palo Alto for a chance of bringing home a sixth section title.
“We were coming off of beating teams that we shouldn’t be beating,” said Solorio, who had one rushing touchdown. “This is a game right here that it sucks to watch it go away. Offense was striking, but we weren’t striking down the field. It was still going to be a shootout until a couple of those onside kicks. But at the end of the day, I’m still, as always, proud of my team. I couldn’t have asked for anything better and I love them with all my heart.”
Aptos head coach Zach Hewett said he was impressed with how the senior class played competitively and didn’t let games slip away from them.
“That was the kind of growth that group needed to show,” he said. “That’s why I came into this game feeling pretty good about our ability to persevere through adversity. But we hurt ourselves a lot.”
Senior running back Ashton Rees had 119 rushing yards and three touchdowns, and hauled in six receptions for 82 yards to go along with an interception on defense to help the Padres secure their first section title since 2009.
“We’ve been playing with each other for as long as I can remember,” Rees said. “Last year we came up short in the first round. This year we came up after beating [Pacific Grove], that’s our first goal. Our next goal is to win a CCS title, and we did that.”
Carmel head coach Golden Anderson took over the program the same year it won the D-IV championship by beating Menlo School 15 years ago.
“I was lucky to do it my first year coaching, so you kind of feel like it’s an easy thing to do,” he said. “I’m just so proud these kids get to feel this…to get in the way we’ve been doing it, come from behind in games and play tough physical teams that run the ball. For us to be able to stop the run and run it is what you have to do at this time of the year.”
Carmel quarterback Hudson Rutherford threw for 310 yards and four touchdowns. Brooklyn Ashe had a career night with nine catches for 146 yards and two touchdowns, while Simeon Brown finished with three catches for 66 yards and a pair of TDs, and tossed a 35-yard scoring strike in the second quarter.
Carmel’s defense recorded five turnovers, with four of them resulting in points for the offense. The Padres completed the perfect season with a 13-0 overall record, while the Mariners finished 7-6.
“Our defensive staff did a good job of adjusting,” Anderson said. “We settled down at halftime. Still stick true to what we thought they were going to want to do when it mattered. Our guys sometimes take a little longer to settle in. Sometimes we jump out on offense, and sometimes we just got to slug it out.”
Aptos senior Dylan Guisado had a pair of rushing touchdowns in the first quarter, including a 3-yard scamper that gave Aptos a 14-13 lead.
The Mariners took a big blow when senior Nate Garcia was carted off the field with 6:52 remaining in the opening stanza. He did not return.
After exchanging a pair of scores, Rees sprinted 21 yards for his third touchdown of the night. On the ensuing kickoff, Matthew Maxon recovered the Padres’ second onside kick that later resulted in a 45-yard TD reception by Ashe.
“They’re very confident going for onsides, which, when you have a really good offense you can do that,” Aptos head coach Zach Hewett said. “Their game script is they want to outpace people, they want to steal possessions and get the game to snowball like they did.”
Aptos orchestrated a nice-looking drive that was capped off by Ryan Solorio’s 8-yard touchdown to cut the deficit at 34-28 going into halftime.
“We just tried to game plan for their offense,” Rees said. “Every game you play we’re gonna give up touchdowns, but just keep on going and going, just keep pushing and come out with a [win] like we did.”
That’s as close as the Mariners got. Carmel poured on 28 unanswered points in the second half, including three consecutive touchdown drives off of turnovers.
Hewett mentioned the first two quarters played out more or less according to the script he had in mind, moving the ball successfully down the field.
“We were doing a good job of moving the ball. We were running the ball very effectively,” Hewett said.
However, losing the turnover battle did not allow them to be as effective as Hewett wanted them to be.
“That team is loaded,” Hewett said. “We played with them, they did a good job of maximizing the margins and doing what they needed to do.”
