SALINAS, Calif. — Salinas head coach Steve Zenk has said that his 2021 team may be the best group he’s ever coached.
Early returns would suggest that he’s right.
The Cowboys pulled away in the second half for a convincing 42-14 win over an Aptos team that had just beaten Palma a week earlier. In the process, they handed the Mariners their worst loss since 2016 and their largest league loss since 2007, when they were a member of the old SCCAL under former head coach Johnny Lopez.
“They’re bigger, faster and stronger than us. They manhandled us,” Aptos head coach Randy Blankenship said. “Most of the time when you lose, you lose a football game. Today we got beat by a better team. Sometimes you run into a beast that’s not a good matchup.”
Adam Shaffer Jr. threw for 227 yards and connected with Emmerson Cortez for three touchdowns, JJ Acevedo ran for 111 yards and Salinas (3-0, 2-0 PCAL Gabilan) didn’t allow a point in the second half in a statement win. The Cowboys and Hollister (4-0, 2-0) are the only teams to emerge from the first two weeks in the PCAL’s top divisions without a loss.
“Our defense really came alive in the second half. We only have two guys that play both ways, so we’re always fresh,” Zenk said. “Usually the middle of the second quarter and third quarter is our time.”
The host Cowboys opened up a two-score lead late in the second quarter on Cortez’s second touchdown reception and an Acevedo run, then shook off a 45-yard Nick Forbes touchdown pass to Rio Cruz by forcing back-to-back three-and-outs in the third quarter and scoring twice more before the quarter came to an end. Nyziah Hunter, who was facing double- and triple-teams all night, finally made his mark in the fourth quarter with an 86-yard touchdown run on a sweep to provide the final margin.
“Nyziah’s the best athlete I’ve ever coached, and Emmerson’s a close second,” Zenk said. “Some games one of them gets triple covered and the other guy has three touchdowns, and some days they’re base covered and they’ll each get two touchdowns.”
With Aptos (3-1, 1-1) committed to ensuring Hunter wouldn’t go off for four touchdowns like he did the prior week against Monte Vista Christian, the middle of the field was open for Cortez, who was never tackled. All three of his receptions went for touchdowns, with a 38-yarder opening the scoring to cap off an 88-yard drive.
The Mariners used their ground attack to fire back, with a 12-play drive, all runs, bridging the first and second quarters. Caden Prichard’s six-yard run tied the game 55 seconds into the second quarter, but it was the only time the Mariners would draw even. Salinas responded with another 11-play drive, converting a pair of fourth downs on runs by Acevedo and Shaffer, before Shaffer hit Cortez for the second time, a 31-yard score.
One of Aidan Flynn’s four sacks forced an Aptos punt on the following drive, and with just a 16-yard kick, the Cowboys needed to go just 36 yards to score again, which they did as Acevedo scored from four yards out. The visitors answered with just two plays, a 21-yard Lawrence Ingram IV run and the 45-yard bomb from Forbes to Cruz, but it was the last time they’d score.
Aptos is known for making dramatic comebacks and late surges, but there would be no such thing at The Pit on Friday night. Even when the Mariners got a Kyle Luis strip sack and Patrick Mackle fumble recovery, they couldn’t capitalize, losing four yards and punting. A 27-yard run by Shaffer set up a four-yard touchdown run by Damian Morales, who had made a key stop on fourth down to kill the opening drive of the quarter.
The rest of the night was a chain of Salinas sacks, with Henry Becerra joining the party and Michael MacNeill accompanying Flynn in the backfield.
“We had a lot of blitzes on the inside and we were misdirecting their offensive line,” Flynn explained. “Whenever they pulled, we would blitz and we were wide open.”
Becerra’s sack led to a punt that set up Cortez’s third and final touchdown, a 57-yarder to make it a three-score game with 55 seconds left in the third. His three catches accounted for 126 of Shaffer’s 227 passing yards. In all, the Cowboys outgained Aptos 492-274.
“It says a lot,” Shaffer said of the victory. “I feel like we can go all the way.”
Considering that the Cowboys passed one of their biggest tests so easily, who would doubt them?
