In just his second start at the varsity level, Monte Vista Christian junior Evan Vessey was given the keys to drive his team home to victory on Friday night.
The Mustang quarterback delivered in spectacular fashion on the road en route to a 34-27 win over Soledad in non-league action.
“I’m very comfortable,” Vessey said about taking over the offense as the starter. “I trust my [offensive] line. Especially a shout out to [Jacob] Wong, he protects my blind side, which is great.”
With the game on the line, MVC head coach Spencer Ferrari-Wood called on his young hurler to close it out.
“[Vessey’s] still growing in front of our eyes,” Ferrari-Wood said. “The thing that makes him really special is not his ability to just do all the stuff we asked him to do, but it’s the off-script stuff.”
Vessey helped the Mustangs kill more than six minutes off the clock late in the fourth quarter. And his biggest play of the game came on a third down situation.
After the snap, Vessey avoided a potential sack by breaking away from two defenders. He then rolled out to the right and connected with Enzo Owens, who fought his way for the game-sealing touchdown.
“I knew [Daniel Garcia] was going to blitz no matter what, and I knew their end on the left side was going to sit back,” Vessey said. “We had a running back screen. As soon as I saw that wasn’t open, I just rolled out the pocket. I found my guy Enzo open, and just trusted him with the ball.”
Vessey completed 32-of-42 pass attempts for 315 yards and four touchdowns.
With the win, the Mustangs improved to a 2-1 overall record and have won two straight since dropping their season opener to Piedmont Hills on Aug. 29.
“It just shows we could come back from anything,” Vessey said. “No matter what the score is, we can come back from it.”
On its final drive, Soledad had one more chance to at least tie the score.
Instead, MVC junior Jordan Ramirez stepped in front of a pass attempt for an interception that put the final nail on the coffin.
“I knew we had to end it out, might as well go out with the bang,” he said.
On top of the big defensive play, Ramirez had eight receptions for 104 yards and one touchdown. Teammate senior Boston Ashe had another breakout game with 13 receptions for 138 yards and a pair of TDs.
“[Ashe] is a great receiver,” Vessey said. “I feel like all that work we’ve put in really paid off. I just continue to trust him, he’s a playmaker.”
It was Soledad that struck first, though, after quarterback DJ Valenzuela took off down the right sideline for a 35-yard touchdown, giving his team the lead at 7-0 with 7:26 in the first quarter.
They managed to drive the ball downfield quickly using a hurry-up offense that gave MVC some trouble slowing down.
“That was the game plan,” Soledad head coach Eric Rodriguez said. “We thought we could get them off guard a bit, which we did. I think we should have stayed a little bit more with it. It would’ve helped us out a little bit more, but you live and learn. Gotta move on.”
Soledad wasted no time getting the ball back when Nathaniel Zarco jumped on a live ball on the ensuing kickoff.
The Aztecs capitalized on the turnover with a 13-yard TD from Daniel Garcia. On their next drive, Gio Gallegos scampered into the end zone to extend the lead at 19-0 in the second quarter.
“We could have just imploded and just folded,” Ferrari-Wood said. “We knew [Soledad was] battle tested, they had a good game plan for us. They executed it really well, and we got in a hole early, but just proud of our kids for fighting and clawing to come back.”
MVC finally responded midway through the second with a well-orchestrated scoring drive that was capped off with a 3-yard TD pass from Vessey to Ashe.
Moments later, the special teams unit came through when lineman Iegor Moskalenko shoved an opposing player into Soledad’s punter for the blocked kick.
“It was such a full-team win,” Ferrari-Wood said. “Offense did some good things. Defense stepped up when it mattered, special teams. Just all three phases. It was good to see it.”
With momentum on their side, Vessey marched the Mustangs down the field on another scoring drive that started with a beautiful toss to Max Arce for 25 yards.
On the next play, Arce bull-rushed his way for a touchdown from 10 yards out to cut the deficit at 19-14 going into halftime.
“There’s always a sense of panic,” Ramirez said. “But you rely on God, and you have a good group like us, we could make anything happen. We just gotta believe in it and work for it.”
Coming out of the break, Vessey tossed his second TD of the evening to Ramirez on a 26-yard strike, giving the Mustangs their first lead of the game at 21-19.
After exchanging a pair of touchdowns, the Aztecs had a golden opportunity to retake the lead. But, Marcos Negrete missed a 25-yard field goal with a little more than seven minutes remaining in the game.
Vessey made use of the mistake by taking MVC on the game’s longest scoring drive, and solidifying his spot as the starting quarterback.
Next up, MVC (2-1) hosts Stevenson (2-0) on Sept. 26 at 7:30pm.
“[Stevenson’s] a good team,” Ferrari-Wood said. “We’ll see the film, but I know they’ll be a tough opponent.”
Prep football scoreboard
Friday
• Soquel 49, at Aptos 14
• Monte Vista Christian 34, at Soledad 27
• Scotts Valley 28, at Greenfield 0
• Alvarez 29, at Watsonville 7
Saturday
• Pacific Grove 39, at St. Francis 23
• Stevenson 24, San Lorenzo Valley 6 (halftime)
• Pajaro Valley at Marina, 7:30pm
