
Watsonville junior quarterback Edwin Cornejo made his first-ever career start at the varsity level against Santa Cruz High on Thursday evening.
So, it was only natural the butterflies would be floating around his belly going into the teams’ season-opener, and a rivalry dating back to more than a century.
“I was nervous, but stepping on the field, being here again with all my team brought the nerves down,” Cornejo said.
He was right. Because come crunch time the young Wildcat was as calm as Pinto Lake on a cool summer night.
Late in the fourth quarter, Cornejo used his legs to run up the middle, where he found a gap as big as the Grand Canyon for a game-sealing 50-yard touchdown en route to a 27-21 win over the Cardinals.
“It’s amazing starting off the season with a win,” he said. “What else could we want?”
With the victory, Watsonville is off to a 1-0 start for the first time since 2022 and has beaten Santa Cruz three consecutive times.
“We’re 1-0, we’re good, it’s a Thursday night game,” Watsonville head coach Manny Contreras said. “[Santa Cruz] is a good C [level] team. I wish them all the best in the world.”
Cornejo completed four passes for 24 yards, while tallying 75 rushing yards and the one score. Teammate senior Abraham Martinez also had a night to remember after he racked up nearly 150 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
“My whole body hurts but I feel good we got that [win],” Martinez said.
At one point, it was anybody’s game after both offenses looked flat in terms of being able to move the ball downfield in the first half.
The ‘Catz forced a pair of turnovers, starting with an interception by senior defensive back Miciah Davis. Later in the second quarter, Martinez stripped the ball for a fumble and recovered the loose ball midfield.
“Our two inside tackles, [Martinez] and Lisandro [Pantoja], make such a difference when they’re in there,” Contreras said. “Across the board, we look like we can play.”
It may have been the jitters, or perhaps the fact the game didn’t kick off until a little after 8pm. Either way, neither team was able to muster a drive that resulted in points on the scoreboard.
Watsonville had the best chance to take an early lead in the first stanza. However, junior kicker Ricardo Ramirez missed a 41-yard field goal attempt, keeping the game scoreless going into halftime.
“It’s a combination of the nerves, and we did have a Thursday game, not Friday night,” Martinez said. “But at the end of the day, there’s no excuses. By halftime, we were able to figure it all out.”
Coming out of the break, Martinez bolted for a 50-yard run to begin the third quarter. Moments later, he capped off the drive with a 17-yard touchdown run, giving the ‘Catz a 7-0 lead just a little less than one minute into the second half.
Watsonville followed up with another well-orchestrated drive that was once again started with a huge run by Martinez.
Cornejo kept the chains moving by connecting with senior receiver Anthony Landa on a screen pass, and sophomore Noel Navarro put Watsonville in great field position with a pair of long runs of his own.
Mathew Silva then extended the ‘Catz’s lead at 13-0 following his 20-yard sprint into the end zone.
“We knew we had to push ourselves harder, and we had to take advantage of what the defense was giving us,” Martinez said. “We opened up the game by executing.”
Santa Cruz wouldn’t go away that easy, though.
Neven Ristic erased the 13-point deficit after he was able to slip past a pair of Watsonville defenders while hurdling another on his way for a 66-yard touchdown.
In the fourth, AJ Dacosta made it a one score game at 20-14 following his 4-yard TD with four minutes remaining in the contest.
“You get a little scared, a little bit, a little worried,” Martinez said. “But at the end of the day we put our faith in God, and we trust in our defense. This is what we do.”
It didn’t take long for the ‘Catz to respond. After watching the opposing quarterback take off for a long score, Cornejo decided to play copycat.
“The whole time we were running that same exact run play, there was no one head on with the nose [tackle],” he said.
Cornejo alerted the coaching staff he found an anomaly in the trenches, and was ready to pick up the necessary yards to move the chains and win the game.
“Let’s just try it, let’s see what we get. We needed two yards for the first, nothing to lose, easy yards,” Cornejo said. “It ended up into a touchdown, and we love that.”
Next up, the Wildcatz (1-0) will play at Aptos (0-0)—a Central Coast Section Division III finalist in 2024—on Sept. 5 at 7pm.
“[Santa Cruz’s] atmosphere was pretty crazy, we’re expecting Aptos to have a way bigger one,” Martinez said. “We got to be locked in, we got to stay focused and execute.”
Weeklys Sports Prep Football Week 1 Scoreboard
Thursday
• San Lorenzo Valley 31, at South San Francisco 7
• Watsonville 27, at Santa Cruz 21
Friday
• Aptos at The King’s Academy, 7pm
• Monte Vista Christian vs. Piedmont Hills, 7:30pm
• Scotts Valley vs. Gonzales, 7:30pm (at Harbor High)
Saturday
• St. Francis vs. Greenfield, 12:30pm
• Pajaro Valley at Gunn (Palo Alto), 2pm