KING CITY — As a celebration 43 years in the making was unfolding, Armando Villasenor’s emotions began to spill out in the form of tears of pure joy.
The King City High senior lineman couldn’t hide his feelings any longer Thursday, ignoring the roar from a standing room only crowd along the home side of a historic season to embrace his mom and dad.
“I’ve been here since my sophomore year when things weren’t so bright,” Villasenor said. “It is emotional. It’s an amazing feeling to do this with my brothers. It feels great to make history.”
Having ended a 19-year playoff drought last week, a photo in the weight room that shows King City’s last league football title team in 1982 won’t sit alone any longer.
With perfection comes a league title as the Mustangs completed an undefeated Mission Division South campaign after a 42-28 win over previously undefeated Sevenson at War Memorial Stadium.
“This is for every kid I’ve coached and have tried to give the opportunity to be in this situation,” King City coach Mac Villanueva said, drained from a bucket of water. “This isn’t for me. It’s never been about me. These kids put the work in.”
The Mustangs will ride into the Central Coast Section divisional playoffs on a nine-game winning streak, which equals Palma’s run of nine straight wins in the Pacific Coast Athletic League.
While Stevenson’s nine-game winning streak was snapped in its first season in the Mission Division South, it is also headed to the postseason for the third time in four years, likely ticketed for the Division IV playoffs
Villanueva, who has been with the program since 2006 and has been the head coach for the last 13 years, adopted a new attitude before the season started, taking a page from Carmel’s football program.
“I went to all five of their playoff games,” Villaneuva said. “What I took from that was their brotherhood. You have to love each other and you have to love this. I adopted that mindset. We have a group of guys who genuinely like each other and work as one.”
Villanueva, who became King City’s all-time leader this year in wins as a football coach, has had just two losing seasons as a head coach. Yet, it hadn’t transpired into a spot in the postseason, let alone a league title.
“We’ve fallen short numerous times,” said Villanueva, a former King City quarterback. “Each time, I felt like I let these boys down. I have learned so much from past teams. These kids deserve the credit for what we’re doing.”
Since opening the season with a non-league loss to North Salinas, the Mustangs have been a team possessed, particularly in the third quarter, where they have outscored opponents 77-7.
That trend continued in its regular season finale when King City used Carson Tidwell’s third rushing touchdown of the game to take a 35-21 lead into the fourth quarter.
“It’s crazy,” said Tidwell, who finished with 301 rushing yards, while adding a 26-yard touchdown catch. “It took a long time to get to this point. It’s surreal. It’s not really sinking in.”
Tidwell, whose first carry of the game was an 86-yard touchdown run, piled 276 yards in the first three quarters for the Mustangs, maneuvering through the Pirates defense behind a wall of offensive linemen that included Villasenor, the lone senior in the group.
“It was just good execution by everybody,” said Tidwell, who broke the single-game county rushing record four weeks ago, rushing for 419 yards against Alvarez. “We just have to keep working. It’s a new season.”
The 5-foot-9, 170-pound junior tailback has had a season for the ages, breaking King City’s all-time rushing record, set 43 years ago by Marc Scaroni, as well as the scoring record, which was set in 1961 by one-time Green Bay Packer tailback Jim Mankins.
With his 301-yard effort, Tidwell has shattered the school’s single-season rushing record in just nine games, as he will go into the playoffs with 1,960 yards, not to mention accounting for 29 touchdowns this fall.
“Tidwell is a helluva of a running back,” Stevenson coach Kyle Cassamas said. “We missed a lot of tackles today. We’ll be focused on correcting that right away. Playing with 23 kids all season catches up to you. It just wasn’t our night tonight.”
The Pirates, who jumped to the Mission Division South this fall after capturing two Santa Lucia Division titles in the last three years, found themselves playing two games over a five-day stretch.
“We’re not about making excuses,” Cassamas said. “I would like to ask the schedule makers who thought it was a good idea for a bunch of kids to play on Saturday, then come back, go on the road for a Thursday game?”
As dynamic as Tidwell was on the ground, the Mustangs opened their playbook with quarterback Rocky Vazquez completing 12-of-15 passes for 179 yards and three touchdowns, including a 36-yard scoring toss to Alex Macias to open the second half.
“If you look at it, they didn’t go downfield too much,” Cassamas said. “They hit us with one seam pass. I think our pass rush is one of the best. But you knock that out with short passes, it is hard to combat that.”
Vasquez put the nail in the coffin in the fourth quarter, when he escaped that Stevenson pass rush, tossing a screen to Tidwell, who picked up a couple of blocks downfield and outran the defense 26 yards.
“If you had told me we’d score 28 points, I would have told you we’re going to win this game,” Cassamas said. “Cudos to them. King City played a tremendous game. Hopefully, we can still get a home game for the playoffs.”
The Pirates defense came into the game having allowed 85 points all season, while King City had surrendered just 65, posting four shutouts, including its last two games.
Even without arguably its best defensive player in linebacker Rocky Villanueva, who suffered a knee injury in the second quarter and did not return, the Mustangs defense held Stevenson to 14 points in the second half.
Anchored by linebacker Nathan Vega, Benjamin Bolanos and JC Navarro, the Mustangs stopped Stevenson three times on fourth down possessions, halting another drive on a Vega interception.
“It felt way different this year, even over the summer,” Villasenor said. “There is a lot of young talent on that defense. Right now, they are shining bright. We are shining bright.”
Stevenson, who never led in the game, put the ball in the air 42 times, with Fin Mink throwing for 351 yards and four touchdowns, two apiece to Caden Olson and Grady Roth, who combined for 26 catches for 280 yards.
