SALINAS — Meeting goals is a season long progression. Growth comes from within over the course of 13 weeks of practice. Not all goals are met. There were bumps in Salinas’ path that didn’t always have to do with football.
Finding the strength to overcome those roadblocks were on full display Friday, as the Cowboys battled with their emotions in support of a teammate.
Trailing throughout the game to playoff-bound Alisal, Salinas got a late touchdown pass from Michael Andrade to secure a 31-28 win to close the season with some momentum.
“It’s always good to learn how to play from behind,” Salinas coach Steve Zenk said. “I thought Alisal had a great game plan, slowing the game down and managing the clock. We did a really good job on capitalizing on big plays and scoring.”
The Cowboys (7-3) are headed to the playoffs for the 18th straight season, riding a three-game winning streak behind Andrade, who has evolved this year as a sophomore quarterback with 29 touchdown passes.
“This is the most improved team we’ve had from start to the present in my nine years,” Zenk said. “I think our coaches do a great job coaching, and our kids accept coaching. We haven’t had the same starting lineup all year.”
The two teams took each other’s punches, continuing to get back up as the lead changed hands nine times before Andrade found Jacob Robles on an 8-yard scoring strike with 4:39 left to give the Cowboys a three-point lead.
“It was amazing,” Alisal coach Francisco Estrada said. “The boys had so much fight in them. We proved last week no matter the score, we can erase a deficit.”
Estrada was speaking about the Trojans recovering from a 25-point deficit with seven minutes left in the game last week to stun North Salinas and clinch a playoff spot.
“I think we’ve proved we belong in the Gabilan Division,” Estrada said. “This is what we wanted. The message after the game is we can play with anyone.”
Alisal’s offense ended the game on the field as it drove 40-plus yards to get inside the Cowboys 40-yard line before attempting a Hail Mary pass as time was expiring.
“We were trying to get into field goal range,” Estrada said. “We were moving the ball. We ran out of time. I thought we executed the Hail Mary to where we had a chance.”
Andrade has continued to evolve with the offense, building chemistry with fellow sophomore Hovan Lusk, as the pair connected for the 10th time this season.
As dynamic as Jayden Duarte has been all season — accounting for three more touchdowns, Isaak Hernandez put together his best game as a Cowboy with touchdown runs of 70 and 2 yards.
The senior transfer finished with 173 yards on 13 carries for Salinas, while Lusk turned two catches from Andrade into 70 receiving yards.
Duarte had a pair of short touchdown runs for the Trojans, and tossed a 31-yard scoring strike to Jordan Garcia. The senior has produced 30 touchdowns five different ways this fall.
North Salinas 30, Aptos 6: Having watched a 25-point lead in the final seven minutes evaporate last week was as crushing a loss as the Vikings have suffered in the last decade.
Finding the character to rebound not only from that setback, but to snap a four-game losing streak as well, meant coming together as one in North Salinas’ season finale.
“I told the kids we still control our destiny,” North Salinas coach Ben Ceralde said. “But we have to play together. We can’t have one guy off. We practiced this week under the lights. It created a different atmosphere. We pulled it back together.”
North Salinas used three touchdowns from Canelo Gonzalez to end their losing skid, and secure a third straight trip to the playoffs, a first in the program’s illustrious history.
“The message coming in this week was still the same,” Ceralde said. “As long as we can execute and do our job, we will get the results we need.”
North Salinas (6-4), who was bumped to the Gabilan Division this year, will be one of six teams from the division that will be seeded into the playoffs, likely in Division III.
Gonzalez accounted for the Vikings first two touchdowns, connecting with Jonathan Ramirez on a 70-yard scoring toss off a halfback option, then adding a 3-yard touchdown run later in the quarter.
“We actually spread the carries out,” Ceralde said. “We used different players to create different styles of running. He (Gonzalez) got loose a little more.”
The versatile tailback’s third touchdown of the game staked North Salinas to a 30-6 lead with 5:51 left in the game. This time there would be no fourth quarter collapse.
The Vikings defense, which had given up 114 points in their last three games, rose to the occasion, forcing a fumble and an interception.
“Those kinds of things change the momentum,” Ceralde said.
Soquel 34, Monterey 7: With quarterback Sam Whelan likely done for the season, the Knights didn’t skip a beat in improving to 9-1 after ending Monterey’s season.
Soquel, who had its 17-game Gabilan Division winning streak snapped last week by Palma, is expected to be seeded into the CCS Open Division playoffs.
After starting the season 3-0, the Toreadores limped to the finish line, as injuries mounted, going 1-6 over their final seven games. They will miss the postseason for the first time in four years.
“It’s not what we set out to do,” Monterey coach Alex Besaw said. “We didn’t handle adversity well. It will be a huge focus moving forward. We have to develop some grit, be mentally tough and build a stronger work ethic.”
Monterey finished the season with just 26 players, as injuries crippled them in the second half of the season — injuries that shelved players for the year.
“It’s frustrating,” Besaw said. “It’s also part of football. We brought up a lot of sophomores this year. The experience was invaluable. That’s the core of this team moving forward.”
Dekota Ordonio provided one last highlight reel for Monterey when he connected with Kai Vaughn on a 52-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to avoid the shutout.
The Toreadores season season-long struggles go back to the first quarter, where they were outscored 86-28 this year. Seven sophomores were at times on the field on defense, going all the way back to their season opener.
Santa Cruz 39, Gonzales 36: A week after clinching the Santa Lucia Division title, the Cardinals completed an undefeated league season, capping a magical turnaround.
Just two years after failing to produce a point throughout the entire season, Santa Cruz will go into the CCS Division V postseason party riding a seven-game winning streak.
“I wish we had some of the kids one more year,” Gonzales coach Eddy Ramirez said. “Our team was full of kids new to football, and it finally started to click at the end.”
With 10 seniors out for football for the first time, along with a crew of underclassmen, Gonzales went 15 quarters before producing its first points of the season.
One of those seniors was Jorge Uribe, who led the Spartans soccer team to a CCS Division IV title last winter and a spot in the Northern California finals with 28 goals.
Blessed with good hands and deceptive speed, Uribe had a big second half of the season for the Spartans with eight touchdowns, including three against Santa Cruz.
Jordan Askew, who began the season as the team’s safety, threw four touchdown passes, including one to Luis Cabada, who is another soccer standout, who was brought in originally to kick. Jaden Uribe added a touchdown run.
“I’m so proud of our boys and how they fought to the end against the league champions,” said Ramirez, whose squad traded leads with Santa Cruz five times.
Greenfield 35, Rancho San Juan 7: It’s the kind of history the Bruins had no plans on making. In the program’s 25-year history, it has never gone winless.
Walking into its final regular season game 0-9, Greenfield has momentum going into the off-season after closing the year with a win over Rancho San Juan.
“It was nice to send the seniors off with a win at home,” Greenfield coach Adam Barsenas said. “We are excited for next season as we will be returning eight starters on offense and defense.”
Since winning the Santa Lucia Division title and tying the single-season school record for wins in 2023, the Bruins have struggled in the Mission Division South, going winless this year and 4-16 overall over the last two seasons.
“We took our lumps this year,” Barsenas said. “But our youth showed flashes throughout the year.”
Travis Ryan, who has been a bright spot all season in the backfield, rushed for a pair of touchdowns, going over 100 yards for the fifth time this year.
Greenfield, who came into the game having scored just 54 points all season, also got touchdowns from Anthony Mata and Danny Nava, while Freddy Pantoja took an interception back for a pick-six.
Rancho San Juan, who finished the season 1-9, avoided being shutout for the second straight week when Cecil Short scored from 1-yard out in the third quarter.
Soledad 28, Alvarez 15: No program was playing better at the end of the year than the Aztecs, who closed the season by winning three of their final four games, ending any shot Alvarez had of sneaking into the playoffs.
Unfortunately, the game had a messy ending to it when a shoving incident resulted in a fight between the teams, with officials calling the game with 1:51 remaining in the game. The teams did not shake hands after the game.
“Yes, it got ugly,” Soledad coach Eric Rodriguez said. “An adult pushed one of our kids and a fight broke out.”
Soledad, who started the season 0-4, closed the year by going 4-2, knocking off Mission Division North champion San Lorenzo Valley. Two of its losses were to teams a combined 18-2. Another was to a reigning state champion.
DJ Valenzuela closed a chapter in his career for Soledad by throwing three touchdown passes, including two in the first half to Chris Gonzalez and Julian Velasquez, staking them to a 14-0 halftime lead.
An all-league catcher in baseball, Valenzuela put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter with a 42-yard scoring strike to Daniel Garcia. Kenny Valdez added a 5-yard touchdown run.
Seaside 28, Harbor 21: For as dominating as Jeremiah Laui has been for the Spartans defense, he’s turned into a dynamic running back, lining up out of the ‘Wildcat’.
The senior rushed for three touchdowns, including two in the fourth quarter to lift Seaside to a come-from-behind win over Harbor in both teams’ season finale.
“I said at the beginning of the year he’d be one of the best running backs in the county if we put him there,” Seaside coach Al Avila said. “But we needed him on defense. We only moved Jeremiah to offense after our quarterback got hurt.”
Inserted into the ‘Wildcat’, the 5-foot-11, 180-pound senior has chalked up nearly 300 yards on the ground in his last two games, 49 coming on a touchdown run with 56 seconds left against Harbor to break up a 21-21 game.
“He has great vision,” Avila said. “When he bounces out, he’s gone. You can’t arm tackle him. He’s got great hands. He’d be a great receiver at the next level.”
After starting the season with four straight losses and 1-6 after seven games, the Spartans won their last three games in the Santa Lucia Division to finish 4-2 in league play.
“Absolutely, we’ll take this into next year,” said Avila, who suited up 22 players. “These kids are learning how to win. The biggest thing we took out of this game is how to fight and win a game that is close. That’s part of the process.”
Laui, who set a school and county record for sacks three weeks ago with nine in a single game, has rushed for six touchdowns in his last two games for Seaside.
Josiah Escort added a touchdown run in the first half for the Spartans, who after building a 14-7 lead, saw the Pirates produce 15 unanswered points to take a 21-14 advantage into the fourth quarter.
