They lost their final regular-season game but will join two
other Morgan Hill Pop teams in the postseason
MORGAN HILL — The Morgan Hill Junior Pee Wee Raiders closed out the regular season with a difficult 36-6 loss to the Almaden Mustangs but were rewarded for their 4-4 finish.
They will join the Pee Wee and Junior Midget Raiders in the playoffs. The Junior Pee wees, whose four losses came against Division I teams, earned a No. 3 seed for the Division II tournament and will play the No. 2 Hollister Vikings this Saturday in Santa Cruz.
The 32-player Junior Pee Wee team and its all-star coaching staff had a tough against the visiting Mustangs on Saturday at the Outdoor Sports Center. Trailing 8-0, the Raiders couldn’t catch up in the first quarter. Christopher Knopf pounced on a kick-off at the 46-yard line, giving Morgan Hill superb field position with 1:44 left in the period. After a series of runs by Justin Sanders and Paul Lomanto accrued little yardage, though, the Raiders’ drive stalled.
Almaden parlayed a pass into another touchdown in the second quarter. With stellar tackling by Jesse Sanchez and Dylan Jud, Morgan Hill’s defense held the Mustangs scoreless for the majority of the quarter.
The Raiders entered the second half fired up, getting big runs from Devon Buenrostro and Trevor Costello, a fumble recovery by Eric Payne and solid defensive work by Tyler Souza. A 20-yard run by Trent Costello set up quarterback Miles Kendrick’s touchdown run with five minutes remaining in the third quarter. Despite the 24-6 margin, Morgan Hill’s fans went wild.
Raiders defenders Samuel Anaya, Reece Dominguez, Caleb Schwan and Ivan Dominguez stood tall as Almaden poured in two more touchdowns to close out the game.
