WATSONVILLE — The high school football season got underway at the second annual Apple City Jamboree Friday night at Watsonville High School.
Watsonville High, Pajaro Valley High, St. Francis High and Monte Vista Christian participated in a set of friendly scrimmages at Emmett M. Geiser Field in front of hundreds of fans from the four schools.
Watsonville High senior Pablo Valle said it’s been amazing being able to play in the Apple City Jamboree the past two years.
“It’s my last year in a jamboree in high school, gotta make every moment special for me,” Valle said.
Watsonville High senior Alex Velazquez said it was fun being able to see some friends but wearing a different uniform.
“Just playing with people you don’t really see that much but you miss is pretty cool,” Velazquez said.
Velazquez said he felt calm going into the scrimmage and pulled off some nice runs in all three series against the Mustangs, Sharks and Grizzlies.
“I was just listening to jazz music all day so I won’t get too hyped up but I felt good today,” Velazquez said.The Wildcatz, who wore the old bumblebee yellow freshman uniforms, looked like the best team on the field on Friday.
The offensive linemen are bigger than in previous seasons and they got off the ball very quickly throughout the entire night.
Velazquez and the rest of the running backs — eight in total — got a chance to touch the ball at least once and made the most of their opportunities by picking up some big yardage and scoring a couple of touchdowns.
The defense also looked solid as players swarmed to the ball carrier and disrupted the quarterback by pressuring him to throw it off target.
The Watsonville High defense looked solid in front of the home crowd during Friday night’s Apple City Jamboree at Emmett M. Geiser Field. (Juan Reyes — The Pajaronian)
Watsonville coach Ron Myers said the defense did an overall good job of containing the runner. They allowed only three long runs, one from St. Francis and the other two from Pajaro Valley.
“We had a lot of eight to nine, 10-man tackles,” Myers said.
Valle said there’s still plenty of things to work on before they take on the Grizzlies for the annual Belgard Kup. Especially better communication on the offensive line and not lining up offsides on defense.
Velazquez said he also noticed some minor mistakes the team can work on during next week’s practice.
“Defensive wise I just feel like we gotta read the plays better for the linebackers and we’ll be good,” he said.
Myers said there’s still some intense competition for starting spots including a battle between senior Daniel Carlos and junior Joshua Rocha for the quarterback position.
“Danny (Carlos) threw the ball pretty well. He didn’t complete a lot because he’s chucking some up there deep but it made it exciting,” Myers said. “His ball looked good when it left his hand, so that’s a plus for us.”
Pajaro Valley coach Kevin Cordova was pleased with the way the team finished, especially after a rusty start in the first series against M.V.C.
“I think (M.V.C.) brought it to us up front but like I said we’re young up front,” Cordova said. “We came out with confidence against St. Francis and kind of got smacked in the mouth a little bit and it humbled us.”
However, the third-year coach said the Grizzlies were able to dig themselves out of a hole and played an excellent series against Watsonville.
“That was good, we didn’t do that a lot last year,” he said. “When we’re down we stayed down, so I hope it’s a sign that we can dig ourselves out it this year.”
Pajaro Valley running back Carlos Hernandez tries to break away from a M.V.C. defender during Friday night’s Apple City Jamboree at Watsonville High. (Juan Reyes — The Pajaronian)
Cordova said the defense is still getting adjusted and working on alignment. But when the players were in sync, the group played faster and swarmed to the ball.
On the offensive side, Pajaro Valley seniors Carlos Hernandez, J.J. Briseno and junior Martin Gonzalez could be a solid trio of running backs this season.
“With every new team it felt like I was barely going in,” Hernandez said. “I was anxious and I just wanted to hit.”
It’ll be the first year Hernandez will come in as the starting running back. He will split carries with Briseno and Gonzalez.
Hernandez said there were some minor slip-ups on the offensive side such as not hitting the gaps and problems with alignment, but it’s nothing that can’t be corrected.
“I think the small mistakes, I can fix them,” he said. “But we were all trying to run hard and I think I saw that tonight. We were all running with heart and I think it’s really helping us because all we gotta do is eliminate the smaller problems and just get better for next week.”
Hernandez said the team is young and wasn’t sure what they’d look like Friday night but he feels like the Grizzlies showed up to play.
“We gave them a look. I feel like we came out with a bang,” Hernandez said.
St. Francis coach John Ausman said it was good to see his players get a chance to hit someone else other than a teammate.
“I think you get a good evaluation of where you’re at as a team, individually and as a program,” Ausman said.
Ausman said Friday night was also a chance for him to see players on the J.V. team, which played earlier in the evening. He mentioned there could be a possibility of players jumping up to varsity squad, especially with a roster that only features 12 players.
“It gives us a chance to see varsity guys that need someone to push them,” he said. “I just think it’s good to just get out, hit someone else and play someone else. Get those jitters out before a game without the pressure of it being a game.”
St. Francis sophomore Dez Litel had a big night as he recorded an interception against Pajaro Valley and a touchdown run against Monte Vista Christian.
“(Litel) did some really good things,” Ausman said.
However, Ausman mentioned the team was very inconsistent. He said the team committed a couple of turnovers on offense, missed several tackles on defense and failed to line up correctly at times.
Ausman said it’s something they’ll work on leading into next week’s season opener against King City High.
“Some guys had some really good plays here and had some good plays there, but the film will help us a lot,” Ausman said.
St. Francis senior Lawson Orradre was another player on the field that stood out. He said it was fun to finally get out and go up against someone other than his teammates.
St. Francis High senior Lawson Orradre attempts to avoid a Watsonville High defender during Friday night’s Apple City Jamboree at Watsonville High School. (Juan Reyes — The Pajaronian)
“I’ve been waiting on this since the end of football season last year,” Orradre said. “I was just imagining it and I’m so excited…It’s a great time to be out with the boys.”
Orradre said there’s still a lot to work on and room to improve. He also mentioned the team needs to get better on connecting as a unit but he still believes they’re a solid group.
“If we can get after it then we’ll be good for this season,” Orradre said. “We’re ready for it.”
The Sharks kick off the season on Thursday against King City at Watsonville High at 7:30 p.m.
M.V.C. senior quarterback Nathan Renggli looked sharp and made a couple of nice completions, including a streaking pass down the middle to receiver Andrew Montoya.
“I dropped back, saw (Montoya) come across the field and saw him run past the defender,” Renggli said. “I saw that he had him beat so I let it go. It worked out.”
However, Renggli mentioned there were also plenty of small mistakes like the offensive line not opening holes for running lanes. He said it came down to who was the tougher team.
“If I’m being truthful, we weren’t as tough as we needed to be tonight,” Renggli said. “We had some good moments and we had some pretty bad ones. We just gotta work hard and get better for next week against Ann Sobrato.”
M.V.C. senior quarterback Nathan Renggli looked sharp during Friday night’s Apple City Jamboree at Watsonville High (Juan Reyes — The Pajaronian)
M.V.C. coach Jubenal Rodriguez said Renggli put the ball where it needed to be but there were many times where the receivers didn’t take advantage of the opportunities.
“We just got to continue working and continue getting better,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he was also let down with the effort of the offensive line, which is supposed to be the team’s biggest strength coming into this season.
“Credit to Watsonville High, they came out and punched us in the mouth and unfortunately we didn’t punch back,” Rodriguez said. “We got a lot to work on in terms of just getting a push on the O-line.”
Rodriguez said at this point all that matters is putting in the extra effort.
“We when get knocked down we gotta get back up and today against the best team here, which is Watsonville, we did not get back up,” Rodriguez said. “I’m a bit disappointed in the fight in our guys but thank goodness that the jamboree doesn’t count and the beauty about high school football is we get 10 guaranteed games to continue improving.”
The Mustangs begin the season by hosting Ann Sobrato on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
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