One step forward and one step back, nobody gets too far like that.
Like the old line from a country music song, San Marcos High’s football team took a step forward Friday night against Capistrano Valley at Warkentin Stadium, but it was an uncertain and unsteady step matched by a few stumbles.
The end result was a 28-13 win by Capistrano Valley, powered by a 175-yard rushing effort by Aurelio Fajardo and two TD runs by James Benedix.
San Marcos' John Wurts, here running down the Capo Valley quarterback, scored a touchdown for the Royals on a fumble recovery and run back. (Vince Agapito photo)
But San Marcos coach Dale Perizzolo remained convinced that his team had moved forward despite the loss.
“It’s a step forward for us, absolutely,” he said. “We get better every week. But we made a lot of mistakes … penalties that went for first downs, missed tackles, dropped passes. Those were just mistakes we could not recover from.”
On the other hand, he found much to like in the play of sophomore quarterback Wesley Gibson, who led the Royals on a picture-perfect TD drive to open the game and consistently got the ball away cleanly under pressure and put it where Royal receivers had a chance to make a play. He finished with 13 completions for 184 yards but had several passes dropped.
San Marcos’ defense also had its moment with John Wurts’ 27-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the third quarter and an interception by Omar Torres deep in its own territory.
But the Royals also committed nine illegal procedure or offside penalties and sustained a couple of CV scoring drives with penalties on third-down plays. Gibson was also picked off twice deep in the CV territory.
“Right now we are way up here,” Perizzolo said, lifting his hand above his head, “and then we’re down here. We need to be more consistent but these are things we can fix.”
San Marcos opened the game with a 71-yard drive that ended with a 17-yard pass from Gibson to Isai Hernandez. Gibson was 3-for-3 on the drive.
Capo Valley responded, however, with a 15-play, 80-yard drive led by Fajardo runs and capped by a 9-yard run by Jayson Bray. The Cougars took the lead late in the half on a 80-yard drive capped by a 9-yard run by Benedix.
San Marcos quarterback Wesley Gibson drops back for one of his 13 completions on the night.
The Royals nearly tied the game at the end of the half after a 70-yard kickoff return by Ricky Lopez but a 17-yard TD pass from Gibson to Thayer was nullified by an illegal procedure penalty and a 26-yard field goal was missed moments later.
The Cougars opened the second half with a short drive after a long kickoff return and scored on a 1-yard run by Benedix.
“We had had enough of losing” said Fajardo. “We had to get to work and (San Marcos) was just the team in the way tonight.”
San Marcos got back in the game briefly when a backwards lateral by Mason Dossey was fumbled back further still and scooped up by Wurts to make it 21-13 midway into the third quarter. But the Cougars added a 4-yard run by Cody Bedner early in the fourth quarter to take control again.
The Royals got two more chances to score, but one ended in an interception and another ended at the 10 on downs after Gibson had completed three passes for 62 yards.
“Capo Valley was 0-4 but 0-4 down there (in Orange County) is different than 0-4 up here,” said Perizzolo. “I think this game will help us be ready for the rest of our season.”
Capistrano Valley…7 7 7 7 — 28
San Marcos… 7 0 6 0 — 13
First quarter
SM_Hernandez 17 pass from Gibson (Godinez kick) 8:40.
CV_Bray 9 run (Bermudiez kick) 2:24.
Second quarter
CV_Benedix 9 run (Bermudiez kick) :43.
Third quarter
CV_Benedix 1 run (Bermudiez kick) 8:45.
SM_Wurts 27 fumble return (run failed) 5:14.
Fourth quarter
CV_Bedner 4 run (Bermudiez kick) 10:59.
CV SM
First downs 17 11
Rushes-yards 51-247 18-26
Passing yards 78 184
Total yards 325 210
Passes 8-12-1 13-26-2
Sacks 2-18 1-6
Fumbles 3-1 2-0
Punts 0-0 2-28
Penalties 12-102 11-75
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING_CV_Fajardo 28-175, Benedix 11-36, Bray 4-32, Dix 1-7, Bedner 3-24, Dossey 4-minus-27. SM: Nelson 11-17, Osborn 3-20, Carreno 1-0, Tahyer 1-7, Gibson 2-minus-18.
PASSING_CV_Dossey 8-12-1-78. SM: Gibson 13-26-2-184.
RECEIVING_CV: Fajardo 4-34, Dickman 1-8, Robinson 1-9, Mullen 1-10, Gordon 1-17. SM: Lopez 4-87, Thayer 4-49, Hernandez 1-17, Carreno 2-16, Nelson 1-15.
MISSED FIELD GOAL_SM 26 (w).
RECORDS_CV 1-4, SM 1-4.
