Gutierrez, Lotulelei gash San Jose for 240 yards, 4 touchdowns in Blue Devils’ rout

By his own admission, Alex Gutierrez struggled in Merced College’s season opener against College of the Redwoods. The freshman running back from Chowchilla High wasn’t comfortable yet in the Blue Devils offense.

Gutierrez looked a lot better on Saturday night, rushing for three touchdowns to help propel Merced College to an emphatic 46-7 rout over San Jose City College at Stadium ’76.

“Last week was an off game for me,” said Gutierrez, who rushed for just 27 yards on 11 carries against Redwoods. “I was getting used to the offense. It was my first game and I was getting the feel for it. I had to clean my system out. This game I felt more comfortable with the offensive line. They were making holes as big as hallways.”

Gutierrez and Hanisi Lotulelei formed a dangerous duo out of the backfield against the Jaguars (0-2).

All Lotulelei did was rack up 163 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. When Lotulelei needed a breather, Gutierrez tagged in and finished with 77 yards on 15 carries.

The Blue Devils (2-0) finished with 323 yards rushing as a team.

“Me and (Lotulelei) are a two-headed backfield,” Gutierrez said. “He’s just a monster. He’s not the type of guy who is going to go down on the firs t hit. But he does get tired. That’s when I can rotate in. Me and him can get the job done.”

It was a dominant performance by the Blue Devils overall as they controlled the game from the start.

Despite a sloppy first quarter that saw the two teams combine for four turnovers, Merced College jumped out to a 14-0 lead.

Danny Chavez intercepted a pass from San Jose quarterback Anthony McBride to set up the Blue Devils first quarter. MC started at the Jaguars’ 49-yard and quickly drove down with Frank Cocio connecting with Nick Cook for a 4-yard touchdown pass to give the Blue Devils a 6-0 lead with 9:09 left in the first quarter.

The Blue Devils forced another turnover late in the quarter as Demarkus Jones recovered a fumble at the Blue Devils’ 45-yard line with 5:49 left in the opening quarter.

Merced College used a 10-play drive with Gutierrez punching in a 2-yard touchdown run. A two-point conversion from Cocio to Cook extended the lead to 14-0.

That was the lead the Blue Devils took into halftime after an uninspired second quarter.

“That’s what we talked about in the locker room,” said Merced College coach Bob Casey. “If we would just allow ourselves to play the game and not get caught up with all of the extra stuff. We had to eliminate our mistakes.”

The Blue Devils looked sharp in the second half as they engineered five scoring drives.

Cocio connected with Brandon Sanchez for a 10-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 21-0 early in the third quarter. Cocio completed 16 of 24 passes for 220 yards and the two scores.

Merced College finished with 543 yards of offense to just 184 for San Jose.

The Blue Devils defense was quick to the ball and didn’t allow many big plays for the Jaguars. Outside linebacker David Perales stood out, picking up 2 1/2 sacks. The freshman from Merced High also forced a fumble and recovered it.

“He’s a dude,” Casey said. “It’s nice having a captain stepping up and dowing those things. He’s exactly what I said he was coming out of high school. As he continues to get stronger, bigger and faster, he’s going to have some opportunities when all is said and done.”

Perales said it wasn’t easy getting to the quarterback with San Jose going almost strictly to quick passes to get the ball out of McBride’s hands.

“You just have to keep going,” Perales said. “Eventually you’re going to get to him. It’s so important for us to set the tone. We’re the ‘Crazy Blues.’ Coach (Pinasco) is always on us to start strong.”

The Blue Devils defense forced four turnovers with two interceptions and two fumbles.

The Jaguars’ lone touchdown came in the third quarter when McBride found receiver Nathaniel Strong for a 4-yard touchdown pass that cut the Blue Devils’ lead to 28-7 with 1:14 left in the third quarter.

Gutierrez added touchdown runs of 3 and 2 yards in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Justin Steeley capped the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run that gave Merced College a 46-7 lead with 3:36 remaining.

The Blue Devils will be back on the road next week when they head to Redding to face Shasta College at 5 p.m.

This story was originally published September 9, 2017 at 10:31 PM with the headline "Gutierrez, Lotulelei gash San Jose for 240 yards, 4 touchdowns in Blue Devils’ rout."