WATSONVILLE—Watsonville High junior quarterback Vicente Baltazar connected with Albert De Haro for a touchdown in their 50-7 loss to Santa Cruz High in non-league play Sept. 3.
The Wildcatz’s special teams unit had a 40-yard kickoff return that set them up with good field possession.
On the ensuing play, junior running back Diego Reyes sprinted 52 yards to the Cardinals’ 6-yard line. Moments later, Baltazar found De Haro for the score.
Nico Smutzer scored on a 16-yard run in the first quarter for the Cardinals. The Wildcatz fumbled on an option play and Casey Roger recovered it to score a touchdown for Santa Cruz. The 2-point conversion was successful.
Santa Cruz extended its lead to 20-7 after Tyreis Lundy scored a 40-yard touchdown with 1:55 remaining in the first half.
Smutzer scored the second of his two touchdowns in the third quarter and the Cardinals shutout the ‘Catz in the second half.
Santa Teresa 48, Monte Vista Christian 7: The Mustangs were defeated by the Saints in non-league action on Sept. 2.
North Monterey County 49, Pajaro Valley 0: Ryan Ruiz had three touchdowns for the Condors in their win against the Grizzlies in non-league play Sept. 3.
Ruiz scored once on a punt return, once on a run from scrimmage and caught a touchdown reception from sophomore quarterback AJ Gomez.
NMC got on the scoreboard first after sophomore defensive lineman Arnulfo Jimenez recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.
Sophomore running back Chris Rasmussen and senior Michael Rubacalva each scored once for the Condors.
“Great bounce back by the boys,” NMC coach Juan Cuevas said in a text message. “They played hard on a warm Saturday.”
It was Cuevas’ first win at home as a head coach. They dedicated Saturday’s game to his assistant coach’s brother, who passed away Sept. 1 after his battle with cancer.
St. Francis 21, Stevenson 6: Diego Ramirez got things started on the first play on defense for the Sharks after an interception return for a touchdown in their non-league win over the Pirates on Sept. 3.
Senior quarterback Kyle Dyer threw a touchdown pass to Pedro Ibarra in the third quarter, while senior running back Nathaniel Madrigal-Hernandez scored on a 30-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that sealed the deal for the Sharks.
Madrigal-Hernandez had a fumble recovery in the second quarter and Ramirez recorded his second interception of the afternoon in the third quarter.
St. Francis coach John Ausman said Christian Abdoo and Nick Ibarra were also all over the field for the Sharks.
“It was a hard fought physical football game and that was fun,” Ausman said.
Ausman credited Stevenson for having a good plan against the Sharks, especially after having just a 7-6 lead going into halftime.
Ausmand said the Pirates also had a couple of players that performed well and they were a physical football team.
“They played, ran to the ball and we didn’t execute on offense completely,” Ausmand said “One of the reasons was how aggressive Stevenson was, tip of the hat to them. At the end of the day we played really well defensively as well, and scored when we needed to.”
St. Francis has a quick turnaround this week as it travels to South Monterey County to play at Greenfield on Thursday at 7:30pm.
Ausman said they’ll get to work right away because of the shortened week, but he knows they’ll have to manage the workload for the players.
The Sharks will take on a Bruins team that beat King City, 17-14, in their season opener and lost on a last-second field goal to Soledad.
“You can’t take any team lightly but I think Greenfield is playing some good football right now,” Ausman said.
