PITTSBURG — Despite his five-foot seven-inch frame, Avant Muldrow’s performance Pittsburg’s 56-10 victory showcased why he’s one of the best two-way players in the Bay Valley Athletic League.
The senior recorded three touchdowns Friday night with 126 rushing yards on 11 carries.
There was quite a bit of concern in the opening minutes for the Pirates. After electing to receive the ball, Pittsburg (3-1) had two three-and-outs resulting in scoring drives for the Dragons. Jesse Madden hit Sterling Stokes for a 65-yard touchdown pass on O’Dowd’s first offensive play. Gabriel Plascencia added a field goal to make it 10-0 Dragons.
Pittsburg went on to score 56 unanswered points, and has now outscored opponents 104-14 since its tough loss to Serra on Aug. 31.
“I’m glad to see the way they responded after a loss like that,” said Pittsburg head coach Victor Galli. “We knew it was going to be a work in progress and they responded well.”
“We got more chemistry, we’re playing more as a team,” said Muldrow.
It is also good to note that during that unsuccessful pair of early drives by the Pirates, offensive coordinator Jimmy Shipe had not arrived to game yet due to a personal matter.
As good of a performance Muldrow displayed, quarterback Jerry Johnson continued to showcase his consistency that earned him the starting quarterback role.
In the second quarter, Johnson got Pittsburg on the board by connecting with Johnny Blackmon for a 22-yard touchdown pass. Later, Muldrow’s first rushing touchdown of the night gave the Pirates the 14-10 lead.
Johnson connected with Blackmon again, this time to set up a touchdown pass to Brian Pierce. Blackmon danced his way for extra yardage, outdoing two defenders. Johnson was not done. He found Muldrow for his third touchdown of the night to make it 28-10, and later scored on a two-yard keeper to make it 35-10.
Pittsburg went on to score three more times in the second half. The defense hauled in four interceptions.
“After we got that first one we got the momentum back,” said Muldrow. “Once we get that back back we keep going and going again.”
Pittsburg hosts Wilcox next Friday in a battle of teams who have each reached CIF title games in the past two seasons, while O'Dowd (0-3) will seek its first win of the season when it hosts Monte Vista on Friday.
