El Capitan sputters on offensive in loss to Gregori

El Capitan coach Mike Machado didn’t expect the big plays to be available against Gregori’s defense. His hope was the Gauchos’ offense could throw the ball to the perimeter and work their way up the field efficiently.

The El Capitan offense was far from efficient.

The Gauchos were only on the field for 20 plays in the first half and didn’t go over 100 yards of offense until midway through the third quarter. Meanwhile, Gregori racked up 284 rushing yards on its way to a 28-14 win Friday night at Don Odishoo Field.

“(Gregori) plays a 3-4 defense with a cover-4, so they’re going to give you the stuff underneath,” Machado said. “We were far from efficient. We tried to throw to the edge and use the short game, but we were very bad at the quarterback position. We were uncharacteristically bad there.”

El Capitan quarterback Chase Whitaker completed just 4 of 10 passes in the first half for 34 yards. He finished with 199 yards, but most of the yards came late with the Gauchos (1-2) trailing by 22 points.

Whitaker wasn’t the only one who struggled.

The Gauchos turned the ball over on the first play from scrimmage when running back Joshua Stewart fumbled into the arms of Jaguars safety Demetrius Vinson. It was the first of three turnovers by El Capitan on the night.

The Gregori offense turned the mistake into points three plays later as quarterback Cam Calton scored on a two-yard sneak to give the Jaguars a 7-0 lead with 11:31 left in the first quarter.

The Jaguars (3-0) marched down the field on their next possession, driving 88 yards on 12 plays as Vinson, Calton and Tony Cristobal took turns carrying the ball for 61 of the yards. Calton capped the drive as he found Vinson in the end zone on a 14-yard touchdown pass just before Calton was drilled by El Capitan’s Stewart near the sideline.

The Jaguars took a 13-0 lead into the half after outgaining the Gauchos 194 yards to 79 in the first two quarters.

“We just weren’t communicating, and we didn’t have our heads in the game,” said El Capitan receiver Elijah Reid, who finished with 77 yards on five catches. “I think we were a little intimidated. We weren’t running full-speed routes.”

An interception by Ronya Moore set up the Gregori offense at its 45-yard line midway through the third quarter. Vinson broke free on a 42-yard run that helped set up a five-yard touchdown run by Cristobal that extended the lead to 19-0 with 4:26 left in the third quarter.

Vinson finished with 139 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. Cristobal added 93 yards and a score on 16 carries.

“They’re solid,” said Gregori coach Jason McCoy. “They do a good job, both Demetrius Vinson and Anthony Cristobal. These guys both work hard in practice and they push each other. We count on them to move the chains.”

Despite El Capitan’s struggles on offense, Machado could see some positive signs. All he had to do is look at the scoreboard and see his defense held the Jaguars to 28 points after losing to Gregori 54-20 last season.

“You can tell physically we can handle a varsity football game,” Machado said. “That was evident with our defense. We will take that output all year. They gave up two touchdowns in the first quarter, and one of those was on the short field. They didn’t give up another score until late in the third quarter.

“Our offense was just ineffective. We just left our defense on the field too long, and you can’t do that against a team with two good backs who run downhill.”

This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 1:14 AM with the headline "El Capitan sputters on offensive in loss to Gregori."