El Cajon Valley Braves 0 Patriots 31

The Patriots travelled to El Cajon Valley HS to play the Braves yesterday and came away with a total team victory with a 31-0 win.  Defense pitched their second shutout of the season and it was a team effort as we played all the defensive players in the game.

Sean Ybarrondo started the scoring with a 30 yard field goal.  Defense was stout by continually making plays in the Braves backfield.  Then the momentum changer came.  On 4th down, Jack Kurz rushed the punter and blocked the kick.  Isaac Pacheco made a clean pick of the ball and raced with the ball for a 40 yard TD return.

Tyree Range was the second coming of former Patrick Henry Alum and Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams.  Range scored two rushing TD's.  But what was more impressive was the way he ran like a fullback.  in the 3rd quarter, Range carried the ball for 23 yards.  16 of those yards were with Braves on his back and he carried them all down the field.

We executed the 2 minute offense before the end of the half and scored on the play of the game.  With excellent blocking from the O-line, Cruz Samniego threw a pass to Kage Nygaard for a 20 yard gain.  But Nygaard wasn't finished.  He weaved in and out of traffic with help of downfield blocking, broke tackles and as he was about to be pushed out before the goal line, he dove at the pylon knocking it down for a 75 yard catch and run for a TD.

To hear the fan reaction of the plays gives me goose bumps.  It was loud and exciting and I could not hear myself think for a bit after the play.

QB Max Martinez and our corp of running backs executed the 4 minute offense by running the clock down at the end of the game.

Field Goals, cleanly picking up a fumble and 'taking it to the house', two minute offense, knocking down the pylon and the four minute offense are all things we practice every week.  When we hit the practice field, our coaches are very thorough in the preparation of the team.  But on Thursdays, we turn it over to the team.  And they put in the effort to win.

But I want to send out a warning.  We have room for improvement.  Let's not go patting ourselves on the back just yet.  I watched film from the game and we made too many mistakes.  Our schedule is going to get harder now and we need to tidy up the loose ends.