Dante Fullard made a successful homecoming to Garcia-Elder
Sports Complex in Gilroy Saturday night by setting up San Jose City
College’s first touchdown with a 62-yard punt return as the Jaguars
kept Gavilan College winless with a 20-10 victory
GILROY — Dante Fullard made a successful homecoming to Garcia-Elder Sports Complex in Gilroy Saturday night by setting up San Jose City College’s first touchdown with a 62-yard punt return as the Jaguars kept Gavilan College winless with a 20-10 victory.
Fullard, a key performer for Gilroy High the past two seasons, donned a San Jose City No. 19 jersey for the visitors and promptly sparked life into the Jaguars’ play.
San Jose City escaped a potential Gavilan scoring march four plays into the contest when workhorse fullback Andrew Gales fumbled the ball on the Jaguar 22. San Jose moved out of danger with three first downs before punting, only to have the Rams go three-and-out before their first punt.
Fullard fielded Sean Hale’s punt on a big bounce at the Jag 34 and quickly darted around the left flank, cutting back at the Gavilan 30 before being tackled at the 4. Jaron Ioane converted from the 4 off right tackle on the next play, giving San Jose a 7-0 edge with 6:02 left in the first quarter.
“Dante’s going to be a major contributor to our success,” said Jaguar head coach Carlton Connor. “We tried to get him the ball more often but Gavilan did a good job putting pressure on us.”
Fullard finished with a 17-yard reception and another kick-off for 26 yards.
Gavilan dropped to 0-3 going into Saturday’s road test against Contra Costa College. The Rams handled Contra Costa 21-0 last fall.
Head coach John Lango found that special teams play once again put the Rams at a disadvantage. In addition to Fullard’s big punt return, the Rams had a punt blocked by Jag A.J. Moosa with 5:41 left in the half and the score tied at 7-7. Four plays later the Jaguars finished a 26-yard march to the end zone when Ioane bulled over from the 6-yard line to give the visitors the 14-7 lead at the break.
“The punt team broke down and that hurt us,” Lango said. “Turnovers made the difference. (Quarterback) Mike (Incardona) was inconsistent.” The sophomore passer threw three interceptions, including one at the Jaguar goal line with 19 seconds left in the first half.
Incardona finished 11 of 23 for 161 yards. Frank Lawson III jumped high to pull down a 30-yard touchdown toss from Incardona with 11:02 to play in the half to create a 7-7 deadlock.
Sean Hale struck for several good runs on the way to 89 yards on 19 carries for the Rams. San Jose managed a 17-15 edge in first downs.
The Jaguars (3-1) took care of all of the scoring in the third quarter when Ethan Gonsalves booted a 24-yard field goal for a 17-7 cushion.
Two series’ later, Gavilan marched from its own 20 to San Jose’s 2-yard line. Victor Sapp highlighted a drive with catches over the middle of 26 and 40 yards. The drive stalled at the 2 and Gavilan settled for an Ivan Lopez 19-yard field goal with 8:44 left in the contest.
Gavilan was able to force a San Jose punt, but when two first downs put the Rams in San Jose territory, safety John Horner intercepted an Incardona offering at the San Jose 28. Ioane carried five times for 52 yards as the visitors used four minutes and 18 seconds before Gonsalves put the game away with a 31-yard field goal with 43 seconds left.
