Hilmar disposes of Gustine, ready for showdown with Sonora

Frank Marques wasn’t really interested in the gaudy halftime statistics his Hilmar High football team accumulated during the first half on Friday night against Gustine.

There was only one statistic that caught the Yellowjackets head coach’s attention. Sonora was leading Ripon 62-7 heading into the fourth quarter.

Hilmar did what it needed to do in easily defeating Gustine 39-14 at McSweeney Field. Now the Yellowjackets can turn their attention on the juggernaut that is Sonora, which comes to Hilmar next week in battle of two 3-0 teams.

“I’m excited. This is what it’s all about,” said Marques. “I can’t wait for Sonora. Sonora is a great program, a class act. It’s going to be a great barometer to see where we’re at.”

Marques didn’t need to see much from his starters against the Reds (1-1) on Friday night. After the Yellowjackets jumped out to a 22-0 lead in the second quarter he pulled his offensive starters. The starters came back into the game for one offensive series in the second half.

“They did really well,” Marques said. “We saw what we needed to see. We were able to run the ball. We came out and basically did what we needed to do.”

The game started on a positive note for Gustine when Tyeler Flores intercepted a Chase Kindberg pass in the end zone to stop the Yellowjackets from scoring on their opening drive.

However, the Reds offense couldn’t get anything going in the first half against the Hilmar defense.

“We couldn’t complete a pass to move the chains,” said Gustine coach Mike Mendonca. “I was pleased with our defense. We didn’t give up many plays where they got a big chunk of yards. We made them put together drives against us.”

Hilmar put together a 10-play drive that covered 75 yards on its second possession that ended when Kindberg tossed a screen pass out to Cody Rentfro. The senior running back did the rest, weaving his way through traffic for a 26-yard touchdown to give the Yellowjackets a 7-0 lead. with 5:47 left in the first quarter.

“I actually went out to early,” Rentfro said. “Luckily my linemen got out there and blocked for me. There was a couple great blocks that opened it up for me.”

That was the first of five consecutive possessions that ended in points for the Yellowjackets that helped them build a 29-0 lead at the half.

Kindberg hooked up with receiver Klay Farris for a pair of scoring strikes with Farris scoring on an 8-yard touchdown and a 40-yard reception. Farris finished with three catches for 89 yards.

“He’s an outstanding receiver,” said Kindberg, who completed 10-of-14 passes for 193 yards and four touchdowns. “He has big hands. He’s a just a receiver you trust. He’s going to give his best effort.”

After Marques pulled his starters, the second unit took advantage of a short field midway through the second quarter as Carter Azevedo capped a 35-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown run that gave Hilmar the 29-0 lead.

By halftime Hilmar had racked up 369 yards of offense compared to just 42 by Gustine.

Mendonca knew what his team was up against this week and that’s why he scheduled Hilmar.

“You don’t get a lot from scheduling down,” Mendonca said. “We were15 points from finishing undefeated in the regular season the last two years. This was a chance to see what we can do against a great program. I think this was a great learning experience for our guys.”

The Reds did get two second-half touchdowns from running back Oliver Perez, who finished with 156 yards on 10 carries. Almost half of his total came on a 75-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that cut the lead to 29-7.

Hilmar’s first unit came back into the game after the touchdown for one series and marched 61 yards on seven plays with Rentfro again scoring on a screen pass. This one was 22 yards to give the Yellowjackets a 36-7 lead with just over 5 minutes left in the third quarter.

It wasn’t long before the Yellowjackets turned their attention to Sonora.

“I don’t think we’ve played to our full potential yet,” Rentfro said. “Against Sonora next week we’ve got to step up.”

This story was originally published September 10, 2016 at 12:46 AM with the headline "Hilmar disposes of Gustine, ready for showdown with Sonora."