KING CITY — Six players scored touchdowns as the King City Mustangs beat Greenfield 50-20 on Friday night at War Memorial Stadium for the final regular season game for both teams. King City improved to 6-4 and Greenfield fell to 3-7 overall after the non-league loss.
The Mustangs finished the Mission Trail Athletic League (Mission Division) at 4-2 and the Bruins were 2-4 in the MTAL Coastal Division. The game will be one of the last played in the MTAL league as all teams in the tri-county area will be moved into new leagues next year for all sports.
“We are pleased to get the win and will continue to practice to prepare for a CCS playoff game,” said King City head coach Mac Villanueva. “With Soledad winning the league we hope to have earned enough points to get into the playoffs. I enjoy being out on the field working with our team and we will just wait to see who we play if we get in the playoffs. All I know is that whoever we play is in for a hell of a fight against us. We are healthy and ready to play.”
Greenfield head coach Ryan Bravo took the field for the last time as head coach for the Bruins as he will be resigning from the position. Bravo has been a head coach at Greenfield and also served as a head coach at Soledad High.
“I have been coaching football for twenty years and it is time to get some new blood to coach here in Greenfield,” said Bravo. “Against King City we were held to a field goal attempt early and Barbree (Clay) came in and blocked and ran for like 80 yards before we stopped him. King City scored after that and even though we kept pace with a first half score they took a 22-6 lead into halftime. It didn’t help our chances when they scored right away in the third quarter and then added all those points in the final quarter. As a team we are pleased that Andy Hernandez was able to rush for 1,000 yard and pass for 1,000 yards for the season. That is a great accomplishment.”
King City scored its first points of the night on a two-yard run by Barbree and a two-point conversion play after a bad snap with a run by Ponch Jimenez. In the second quarter Luis Luna threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Luis Briseno and the Mustangs led 15-0 after the PAT by Max Pallas. Hernandez scored from 20 yards on the next Bruins offensive series but King City complete the first half scoring with a 24-yard touchdown reception from Luna to Jimenez.
The teams traded scores in the third quarter as Matt Morales scored from three yards out for King City and Hernandez threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Andres Espinosa and Brayan Ceballos scored on a two-point conversion run.
The score was 29-14 at the start of the final quarter until the Mustangs scored a pair of touchdowns with a four-yard run by Barbree and a 10-yard touchdown run by Christian Rose that put the home team up, 43-14. Hernandez finished the night with a 10-yard touchdown run for the Bruins and Shea Martin completed the scoring for King City with an exciting 48-yard touchdown run for the 50-20 final. Pallas converted on six PAT’s for the Mustangs.
Luna was the leading rusher for King City, running for 108 yards on 13 carries. Martin added 73 yards on five carries and one touchdown, Morales rushed for 68 yards on nine carries and one touchdown, and Barbree finished with six rushes for 37 yards and two touchdown runs. Luna had a 14 of 19 passing performance and threw for two touchdowns
Barbree led King City’s receivers with five catches for 68 yards, followed by Joseph Salcido with three catches for 32 yards. Jimenez and Briseno combined for 45 yard yards and two touchdowns.
Greenfield was victorious in the JV game, beating the Broncos by a 28-23 score. Ivan Torres scored on a 32-yard sweep and Antonio Chiquito added a 10-yard dive for a touchdown.
“We led 16-14 at the half,” said Greenfield head coach Bill Riddell. “We scored on a quarterback scramble by Daniel Morales but we trailed with about four minutes left to play. Morales then scored on an electrifying 70-yard run and our defense held them with about two minutes left in the game.”
