MONTEREY — Returning to the site of arguably its greatest finish during its run to a state football title last year, perhaps Carmel could rediscover a little of that magic.
Playing under the lights for the first time this season, the Padres provided flashbacks to last year’s run through the postseason, producing points on their first four drives in the first half.
While Carmel didn’t rack up 62 points like it did in last year’s Central Coast Section Division III title game against Aptos, it put together its best performance since winning the state title after Friday’s 57-13 win at Monterey Peninsula College.
“It was a little different feeling being back here,” Carmel coach Golden Anderson said. “We are pretty comfortable here. Kids are extra excited when it’s a night game. It was homecoming. We had a lot of energy.”
Last fall the Padres closed the season playing four of their final six games at MPC, where they went 4-0, getting a stop on a two-point conversion attempt with no time left in the Northern California title game for a 42-41 win over Acalanes of Lafayette.
“Historically, we’ve played well here,” said Anderson, whose program has won 13 straight games at MPC, with Carmel’s last loss coming in 2013 to Pacific Grove in the CCS Division IV semfinals.
Bumped to the Gabilan Division this season after going 15-0 last fall, the win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Padres, who had given up 98 points in losses to the reigning league champion Soquel and North Salinas.
The 57 points nearly matched its season total of 59 points through Carmel’s first three games of the season.
“We realize losses will occur in this division,” Anderson said. “We thought we got better last week. We had another good week of practice. It’s never as good as you think and it’s never as bad as you think.”
Unlike last week when Carmel was outscored 21-6 in the second half in a 49-26 loss to North Salinas, it outscored Aptos 29-7 in the final 24 minutes behind three rushing touchdowns from freshman Max Goldsmith.
In fact, Carmel put an emphasis on grinding the ball to open the game with seven straight runs before quarterback Kaleb Herro connected with Dean Briant on a 17-yard touchdown pass on his first attempt.
“It was a little of what Aptos was giving us,” Anderson said. “They were trying to defend the whole field. You’re always trying to establish the run and control the pace of the game.”
Forcing the Mariners to respect the running game opened things up for Herro, who tossed three touchdown passes in the first half, two to Stanford-bound pitcher Matt Maxon.
“When you’re executing at a high level and not trying to call the perfect play, it makes things easier,” Anderson said. “I needed to be better, trust our kids to run our plays. We tried to call plays faster. If you can run the ball, you can play faster.”
Carmel found a spark running the ball in the first half with Connor Reilly, who rushed for over 100 yards and two touchdowns, bolting 80 yards for six in the third quarter.
“The offensive line made good adjustments,” Anderson said. “The kids are getting to see the fruits of their labor. Sometimes you work hard and it’s not good enough. That’s life. You have to prepare to show up the next day.”
As dominant as Carmel’s offense was in scoring on all eight possessions, its defense clamped down on Aptos’ Wing-T attack behind sophomore defensive end David Spencer and linebacker Skyler Madsen, who was making his first start.
Spencer had a huge sack in the first half to halt a drive on fourth down in what was a two-point game at the time, while Madsen came up with numerous tackles.
“Our defense was a big reason why the score was what it was,” Anderson said. “We made some changes. One game isn’t really enough of a sample size before getting into league play. You have to reevaluate with so many young kids.”
