Here’s how Merced beat Golden Valley to win Mayor’s Cup for 15th consecutive year
The Merced High football team had plenty of reasons to celebrate on Friday night.
The Bears dominated in defeating crosstown rival Golden Valley 33-7, keeping the Mayor’s Cup for the 15th consecutive year. The win also improved Merced’s record to 3-1 on the season and 3-0 in the Central California Conference, wrapping up at least a share of the CCC championship with one game remaining.
The Bears celebrated keeping the Mayor’s Cup on their side of town, but you didn’t hear any of the players talking about the CCC title just yet.
“We’re kind of keeping it hush, but they knew about it tonight,” said Merced coach Rob Scheidt. “We were kind of focused on ‘The Cup.’ We didn’t want to say CCC with a chance that we could be co-champs.”
The Bears felt the pressure of streak against Golden Valley and didn’t want to give the Mayor’s Cup back to the Cougars.
“There was a whole lot of pressure,” said .senior Raheem Choyce, who scored two touchdowns. “Everybody was nervous they’re going to lose it. They don’t want to be that group to lose it.”
Merced took control of the game early, using a trick play to score on its first possession.
The Bears called a double pass on the third play of the game as quarterback Seth Scheidt passed to receiver Jack Collins. Collins, who caught the ball behind the line of scrimmage, then fired down field to a wide open Choyce for a 65-yard touchdown pass to give Merced a 6-0 lead just one minute into the game.
“We had that double pass in our arsenal the last couple weeks so we decided to move it up into our first 10 plays,” Rob Scheidt said. “I think that was a great start for us.”
Big plays had been missing from the Bears’ offense for most of the year.
That wasn’t the case on Friday night as Merced used another explosive play to extend its lead late in the first quarter when Seth Scheidt found Enoch Evans for a 49-yard touchdown pass to give the Bears a 13-0 lead with 1 minute, 11 seconds left in the second quarter.
Merced stretched the lead to 26-0 in the second quarter after Seth Scheidt found Evan Perez for an 8-yard touchdown pass and Choyce intercepted a pass and returned it 65 yards for his second touchdown.
Seth Scheidt tacked on a 55-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter. An extra point by Sunshine DeAnda extended the lead to 33-0.
“If we evaluate effort every week I don’t think anybody has outplayed us in terms of effort,” Rob Scheidt said. “Tonight was the same.”
Merced’s defense, which hadn’t given up more than 14 points in a game this season, turned in another impressive performance. The defense held Golden Valley to 30 yards of offense in the first half.
Cougars star running back Jabari Phillips was limited to 32 yards on his first 19 carries before breaking free for a 73-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Phillips finished with 112 yards on 23 carries.
Merced can win the CCC title outright next week against Atwater.
“We had (the Mayor’s Cup) for 15 years, we didn’t want to lose it,” Choyce said. “We want to keep it at our house.”
