Gilroy
– The Gavilan Rams completed the pre-Coast Conference portion of
the 2007 football schedule with a 55-23 loss to College of the
Sequoias Saturday at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
Gilroy – The Gavilan Rams completed the pre-Coast Conference portion of the 2007 football schedule with a 55-23 loss to College of the Sequoias Saturday at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
The 2-4 Rams draw the first-week bye in the Coast Conference this week, beginning a four-game conference test on Oct. 20 against San Jose City College on the Jaguars’ turf.
The Giants (3-2) erased a 16-14 halftime deficit and used poor punt unit play on the part of the Rams to ease to the victory.
Linebacker Joshua Mack blocked two Gavilan punts in the third quarter to spark the rally. Billy Foster covered the first block at the Ram four and Seth Smith bulled over on the first play to give the Giants a 21-16 lead just 2:18 into the second half.
Mack’s second block turned into six points when Smith hustled to cover the ball at the back of the end zone for a touchdown with 6:29 left in the third.
The inspired Giants exploded for four touchdowns in the fourth quarter, using Gavilan’s poor punting unit to set up the first score.
The Rams’ long snap sailed over punter Michael Blewett’s head and Mack recovered the ball at the Gavilan 12. Smith slashed over left tackle on the first play from scrimmage, lifting the Giants to a comfortable 34-16 lead with 9:44 to play.
“The key in Coast Conference games is to play the way we did in the first half (against COS),” said Ram coach John Lango. “The defense played hard all night. Our passing game did some really good stuff. As fast as COS was on defense, we were able to move the ball.”
The Giants completed the victory with three touchdowns in the closing 6:30 of play.
Quarterback Arkelon Hall finished a 19-of-31 night by firing a 42-yard pass to Jamar Howard to set up a 16-yard TD toss to Sam Garver.
Back-up quarterback Casey Therriault made the most of his few minutes of playing time by completing two passes, both for touchdowns (31 and 64 yards). Gavilan fired back with a 31-yard TD pass from Nick Kalantari to Jeremy Burns with 2:28 to make it 48-23.
Gavilan’s Chad Kakebeen pulled in a flutter pass from a falling Hall with 12:36 left in the first quarter and made a 14-yard return to set the Rams up at the Giants 25.
Gavilan had three tries from the four-yard line before Blewett converted a 21-yard field goal
The Giants went 55 yards in seven plays to take a 7-3 lead. Smith covered 24 of the yards, including a five-yard slant to paydirt with 8:37 left that occurred after Smith shook off a potential tackle at the eight by linebacker Mark McCoy.
McCoy recovered a Giants fumble to set up Gavilan’s next scoring drive, Blewett sailing a 48-yard field goal just over the bar with 14:48 left in the half to make it 7-6. COS responded, covering 37 yards in 12 plays after James Vukson recovered a muffed punt return by the Rams.
Hall solved a fourth-and-one situation with a lob pass to tight end Maurice Graham off play action for a 14-6 lead with 7:39 left.
The Rams grabbed a two-point intermission lead by getting a 44-yard field goal from Blewett and a 12-yard TD pass from Kalantari to Steven Conner with 46 seconds to play.
Kalantari took every snap for the hosts and responded to the trust by completing 24 of 48 passes for 235 yards.
After the Rams found that sophomore wide-out Ellis Krout had been dropped from the squad for the balance of the season, the remaining receivers shared in the numerous opportunities.
Burns pulled in 10 passes for 87 yards, including the deft pattern behind the secondary for the Rams’ final six pointer.
Blair Wortham was busy with eight catches for 95 yards. Conner finished with five grabs worth 40 yards. The running game had a net loss of 11 yards in 28 plays, with Tim Lango stopped for 16 yards on 15 carries. Gavilan’s pass rush sacked Hall three times.
