Merced College football forces five turnovers in rout of Hartnell College
Eight different Merced College players scored touchdowns as the Blue Devils routed Hartnell College 54-7 on Friday night at Stadium ‘76.
The Blue Devils shined in all facets of the game as they dominated from start to finish to improve to 3-1 this season.
It started early as Merced College recovered a fumbled on the opening kickoff. One play later, MC quarterback Aiden Meyer scored on a 24-yard touchdown run to give the Blue Devils a 7-0 lead.
Linebacker Emmanuel Evans intercepted a Hartnell pass on the Panthers next possession to set up the MC offense at the Hartnell 13 yard line.
Isaiah Hidalgo helped the Blue Devils cash in again on the Panthers turnover with a 5-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 14-0 with 11:23 left in the first quarter.
“That’s the first time we had all three pieces kind of come together,” said Merced College coach Justin Pinasco. “We had yet to do that. Not turning any over for scores was a big one for us. Winning that turnover battle was big for us.”
The Blue Devils added a third first-quarter touchdown on an 89-yard drive that took 13 plays. Meyer capped the drive by finding tight end Tony Woolsey in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 21-0 with 3:48 left in the first quarter.
The rout was on.
The Blue Devils took a 35-7 lead into intermission.
Merced College was able to move the ball on the ground throughout the night with Malachy Harts and Justin Incaprera leading the way. Harts carried the ball 13 times for 71 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown run.
Incaprera did the heavy lifting two weeks ago with 36 carries for 193 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-34 win over Los Medanos.
Incaprera was limited to just eight carries for 69 yards against Hartnell.
“We had a variety of guys running the ball,” Pinasco said. “Incaprera took the ball 30 some times last game. To see Malachy come in and handle a heavy load was nice to see.”
Meyer, Hidalgo, Harts, Jayden Vargas, and Ronnie Harris all collected rushing touchdowns.
The defense pressured Hartnell’s trio of quarterbacks all night, led by Jaylen Thao-Booth, who finished with three sacks.
“We got that going last game and we really started keeping on that with the guys’ motors up front,” Pinasco said. “I don’t know how many sacks we had but we definitely pressured quite a bit.”
The Blue Devils forced five turnovers, including a pick-six by Jeremiah Robinson in the second half.
Merced College will head to Cabrillo College next Saturday at 7 p.m.
