Merced, Golden Valley turn to backup quarterbacks as teams make their late playoff push
It’s a next-man-up approach for the Merced and Golden Valley high school football teams this week after both teams lost their starting quarterbacks to injury last week.
Cougars quarterback Eleazar Garza injured his ankle on the final play of the first quarter against Patterson and is expected to miss two to three weeks.
Best-case scenario for Golden Valley is Garza returns next week against Merced. The Cougars have lost 16 consecutive games to Merced in the Battle for the Mayor’s Cup and have been hoping to end that streak all season.
Merced quarterback Carter Haugen injured his collarbone in the second half against Buhach Colony on Friday night and is out indefinitely.
Both teams will continue their playoff push late in the season by turning to their backup quarterbacks.
For Merced it’ll be sophomore Quintell Dupree, who was promoted from the junior varsity team in early September, moving into the starting role.
“It’s tough because Carter probably played his best game last week,” said Merced coach Rob Scheidt, whose team is 4-4 overall and 3-1 in the Central California Conference. “He was playing pretty well, he was making good decision. He was starting to figure out the intricacies of our offense.”
The Bears will host Central Valley (1-6, 0-3 CCC) on Friday.
Golden Valley will turn to junior Abraham Bautista, who completed 7 of 11 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown after entering the game after Garza went down against Patterson last week.
The Cougars (7-1, 3-1 CCC) travel to face El Capitan (0-8, 0-4 CCC) on Friday.
“(Bautista) is focused and ready to go,” said Golden Valley coach Rick Martinez. “He’s been waiting for this opportunity his whole life. He’s excited. It’s full speed ahead. We know teams are going to stack the box against us to stop (running back) Jay (Smith) and make our quarterback beat them.”
Martinez also hinted Golden Valley may use receiver Jonah White in some packages at quarterback.
Like so many teams at almost every level from high school to the NFL these days, the quarterback is a big part of the running game for both Golden Valley and Merced.
Garza had rushed for almost 700 yards and 11 touchdowns this year for the Cougars.
Haugen wasn’t featured as much in the the Bears running game, but he would help keep defenses honest by keeping the ball on some zone-read plays and called running plays for the quarterback.
There’s obviously a risk of injury when you include the quarterback in the running game.
That’s part of the reason Scheidt promoted Dupree after the third game of the season. He wanted that option available to him if needed.
“We weren’t comfortable waiting for something to happen and then moving him up,” Scheidt said. “We felt it was in our best interest to move him up and play him in certain situations.”
In limited action, Dupree has completed 15 of 30 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns. He’s also rushed eight times for 42 yards and a touchdown.
“Every time Quintell has gone in the game, good things have happened,” Scheidt said. “He has a lot of God-given ability. Not many people can walk in the room and be 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, run well and throw the ball with a high velocity.”
Hilmar example of backup success
Neither team is packing it in with their starting quarterback out.
Golden Valley and Merced only have to look to Hilmar to see you can have success with a backup quarterback.
The Yellowjackets lost starter Hudson Azevedo in a loss to Sonora on Sept. 2.
Sophomore Caden Bailey was promoted from the junior varsity team and Hilmar has won four of its last five games and can clinch a Trans-Valley League championship this week with a win against Modesto Christian.
Martinez says he’s preached to his team that the program is bigger than one person. He said they had to go through something similar when Martinez had to deal with a family emergency after his grandson was involved in a car accident.
“No one man is bigger than the game,” Martinez said. “We try to coach these guys up so the program is almost running like a machine. It can almost run by itself.”
Friday’s games
Central Valley at Merced
Golden Valley at El Capitan
Buhach Colony at Patterson
Hilmar at Modesto Christian
Livingston at Riverbank
Los Banos at Lathrop
Beyer at Pacheco
Delhi at Le Grand
Gustine at Ripon Christian
Waterford at Mariposa
Stone Ridge Christian at Big Valley Christian
Dos Palos at Firebaugh
Chowchilla at Caruthers
