Merced Union High School District

El Capitan High senior Lorenzo Peters and some of his teammates were shedding some tears after last week’s loss to Golden Valley. They thought they had played their last football game. So they were excited when it was announced the Gauchos were included in the Sac-Joaquin Section’s new bowl games added to this season.

 

Peters took advantage of his opportunity to play one more game, rushing 130 yards and two touchdowns and returning an interception 40 yards for another score to help lead the Gauchos to a 22-8 victory over Livingston at Merced College’s Don Odishoo Field. “We got another opportunity,” Peters said. “No matter how this season went it’s still good to end on a high note.”

 

The Gauchos (5-6) celebrated when they were presented the section bowl banner. It was a big moment for a program that had never played in a postseason game before Friday night. Players passed the banner around and posed for photos. 

 

“It’s nice for the seniors, it’s nice for the program,” said El Capitan head coach Xaiver Ramirez. “We have something to build off of and it’s good for the school. Compared to where we were last week, this is a great feeling for these boys.”

It was a competitive game between two MUHSD schools. Livingston (3-8) opened the scoring on a 24-yard touchdown run by Mathias Valencia. The Wolves then ran a trick play that worked for a two-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead with 4:10 left in the first quarter.

 

The Gauchos answered with a 60-yard drive on eight plays. Peters carried the ball three times for 31 yards on the drive, including a 1-yard touchdown run. Peters then ran in the two-point conversion to tie the game at 8-8 with 1:03 left in the first quarter.

 

El Capitan’s defense came up with four interceptions in the game. Peters picked off one pass from his cornerback position and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown to give the Gauchos a 15-8 lead with 3:56 left in the third quarter. Peters credited teammate Jayden Scott for making the key block that led to his touchdown. “I would have never scored if it wasn't for my teammate Jayden Scott’s block,” Peters said. “I'm so grateful for him to make that play for me and just bring our whole team up right there.”

 

Elias Hernandez, A.J. Jones and Craig Rowan also picked up interceptions for the Gauchos defense. Peters added a six-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 22-8. “I think this was one of our better teams wins,” Ramirez said. “We had the four interceptions, Lorenzo had himself a day. We were able to run the ball and kind of impose our will. We just did a lot of the little things tonight.”

Livingston head coach Steven Wine said he was proud of his team’s effort. He was happy that the bowl game gave him another week with his players. “I know there's people that are trying to bad mouth this thing, and I don't understand it,” Wine said. “One more football game is great. I don't care if we're playing for a toilet bowl or whatever. We're playing, and I get to coach my guys for another week. I wish we could line up and do it again on Monday but we can’t so I think it was awesome. Coach Ramirez will be the first coach to take that team to a postseason game. That's great for them, and hopefully that gets that program going a little bit too. That's why this thing was put in place, because they would have been going home.”

 

Enochs 46, Golden Valley 39 – Cougars quarterback Gabe Richards threw three touchdowns and ran for another score, but the Cougars couldn’t hold off the Eagles. Richards connected on touchdown passes to Jaden Smith, Isaiah Welch and Jaren Bell. Isaiah Welch also rushed for two touchdowns.

 

Grace Davis 53, Atwater 27 – The Spartans outscored the Falcons 33 to 7 in the second half to pull away for the bowl victory at Dave Honey Stadium. Atwater quarterback A.J. Banks threw a pair of touchdowns to Austin Sylas in the first half. Banks also found Charlie Whitby for a 15-yard touchdown pass that gave Atwater (6-5) a 20-14 lead early in the second quarter. Whitby added a 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

 

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.