APTOS — A superb week of practice can lead to great things on game day. At least that’s the way Aptos High football coach Randy Blankenship put it.
The end result of this week’s practice: a crushing 28-7 win over Alvarez High on Friday in Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan division play.
“We had our best week of practice since we started and it looked like it. We played a lot better,” Blankenship said.
Aptos senior Vaughen Holland finished with 58 yards rushing and two touchdowns on six carries, while senior running back Josh Powell had a team-high 70 yards rushing on nine carries.
“We were practicing hard all week, we were preparing,” Holland said. “We’ve had some crushing blows this season, so we wanted to come out firing and we wanted to bring it to ‘em.”
Senior Dre Gomez had 15 yards rushing and a touchdown on four carries, while junior Alex Rosas had 45 yards rushing and a touchdown on 11 carries for the Mariners.
Aptos had 13 players with at least one carry. They finished with 252 yards on 44 carries as a team.
“We’re pretty versatile,” Holland said. “We have people that go in all different positions: running back and wide receiver. It just makes sure that we have fresh legs in there all the time.”
The Mariners (4-2, 3-1) are known for their fierce rushing attack but Blankenship said they’ve also had to rely on the pass lately.
Sophomore quarterback Nick Forbes completed 3-of-11 pass attempts for 61 yards and an interception. Blankenship said the young starter is still playing with some nerves and it’s shown, as he has missed on some open receivers down the field.
“(Forbes) will start hitting them,” Blankenship said. “He’s hitting them in practice.”
Forbes did connect with junior receiver/quarterback Fisher Johnson on a beautiful 31-yard strike down the sideline on the team’s second drive.
Holland said he believes the Mariners are as focused as ever and Friday night’s game was the first time the players were on the same page.
“There’s obviously things we have to work on as any team does but I think if we can keep having practices like we did last week, we’ll be able to play the same way,” Holland said.
The Eagles have struggled to compete in an “A” division in each of the last three seasons. They have a combined 6-23 league record in that time.
Aptos won last year’s meeting against Alvarez, 48-14.
But the Eagles, who were coming off a tough 35-28 league loss to Salinas High, were looking to put up a fight from the get-go.
Alvarez’s defense made a couple of big stops in the first half after giving up a touchdown on the Mariners’ opening drive.
The Eagles forced Aptos to turn the ball over on downs twice and senior Frank Rocha intercepted Forbes.
The Mariners’ defense also did its job of stopping Alvarez running backs Braden Arriaga-Lopez and Dylan Uto, whom had a combined 14 touchdowns going into Friday’s game.
Arriaga-Lopez was contained to 60 yards on 14 carries, while Uto finished with 63 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.
“If we don’t give up that last scoring drive before the half, the defense played like I thought it could play,” Blankenship said.
The Eagles were forced to punt on their first five possessions, failing to move the ball past the 50-yard line. But they managed to finally get something cooking just before the end of the half.
Uto scored his seventh touchdown of the season with 14 seconds left in the second quarter, cutting Aptos’ lead in half to 14-7.
However, the second half was not as kind to Alvarez. Uto fumbled the ball in the third quarter, while Rocha threw an interception in the fourth.
Aptos junior Sam Murillo stepped in front of Rocha’s pass to record his first career interception and he sprinted down the field for a 60-yard return.
“I was just reading my keys and it led me to the right side,” Murillo said. “(Rocha) was under pressure, he just threw it out there and I was there.”
Murillo said it was an all-out team effort and talked about how having a good week of practice gave them the end result they wanted.
“We stepped it up and this when Aptos gets better, it’s what I’ve heard,” Murillo said.
Aptos is coming off a championship season in which it won the Central Coast Section Division III title. Blankenship said it’s always tough to have a similar result the following year because people think it’s going to automatically happen.
“But it doesn’t just happen, you really have to work at it and we worked this week” Blankenship said. “This is usually when the Mariners start picking up the pace.”
Aptos was scheduled to play against Gilroy High next week. But the Mustangs forfeited their six remaining games after the Gilroy Unified School District announced a large number of varsity players had suddenly quit the team.
The players quit after learning several players were cited for sexual battery after allegedly assaulting a teammate.
However, Gilroy has petitioned the Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan division and the Central Coast Section to resend its forfeits for the final four games of its varsity football.
Blankenship said he wants the Mariners to play the Mustangs instead of having a second bye week.
“We’re still trying to hit our stride,” Blankenship said. “We should’ve been able to score more if we just executed stuff… but that’s been our problem all year. I’m just happy to see they got a reward for playing hard and practicing hard.”
If the Mariners don’t play Gilroy, they will host Christopher on Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
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Editor’s Note: This article will be published in the Oct. 18 edition of The Pajaronian.
