Merced holds onto Mayor’s Cup for 10th consecutive year

With a banged-up quarterback in Jake Foss, the plan for the Merced High football team was to lean on its big offensive line and two running backs, Paul Scoggins and Rayveon Slaton.

The Bears dominated an undersized Golden Valley defensive line, racking up 365 rushing yards en route to a lopsided 49-12 victory to keep the Mayor’s Cup for the 10th year in a row at Veterans Stadium on Friday night.

Merced (7-3 overall, 5-0 Central California Conference) also wrapped up the outright conference championship and will find out its first-round playoff opponent today when the Sac-Joaquin Section releases the playoff brackets at 4 p.m.

“The holes were big,” Slaton said. “We knew that was a big weakness for them, stopping the run. Coming in, Jake was a little banged up, so we knew the running backs would get the ball a lot.”

Slaton carried the ball 17 times for 201 yards and two touchdowns. He also added a 21-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter.

Scoggins added 121 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.

“That’s what we were hoping to do, and then you hope it’s enough,” Merced coach Rob Scheidt said. “Jake made a couple throws early on, but we were trying to get him through to next week healthy.”

The Cougars (4-6, 1-4) struck first on the second play of the game as quarterback Armando Muzquiz found a wide-open Isaiah Montanez downfield for a 67-yard touchdown to give GV a 6-0 lead just 50 seconds into the game.

Merced’s offense then came out in warp speed as the Bears raced up to the ball after every play and marched right through the Golden Valley defense for two touchdowns.

Scoggins capped an eight-play, 76-yard drive that took less than three minutes with a 13-yard touchdown run.

After a Cougars punt, Merced again went into hyper drive and raced down the field. The Cougar’s defense wasn’t even lined up as Foss scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak to give the Bears a 14-6 lead with 5:13 left in the first quarter.

“I felt they were having trouble lining up against us,” Scheidt said. “Just knowing from playing other opponents, when we go tempo it’s tough on the other team. It’s kind of a feel thing. If they’re getting lined up properly, we may slow it down and take a look.”

Golden Valley answered with a long 82-yard drive that ended with Muzquiz finding tight end Brady Mello alone in the end zone for a one-yard touchdown pass that pulled the Cougars within 14-12 with 11:21 left in the first half.

Merced took over from there.

Running behind their two mammoth bookend tackles in Christian Lopez (6-foot-3, 270 pounds) and Joe Moraga (6-3, 295) and center Manuel Ramirez, Slaton and Scoggins sliced up the Cougars’ defense.

By halftime, Merced had extended its lead to 28-12, and Scoggins and Slaton had combined for 218 yards and three touchdowns.

“We’re definitely short-handed,” Golden Valley coach Dennis Stubbs said. “We were hoping to hang around and make it interesting, and I think we did that for about a quarter and a half. The size difference was very noticeable. The kids we had in there played hard.”

Foss, who injured his shoulder in last week’s win over Turlock, completed 3 of 7 passes in the first half for 55 yards. He didn’t play in the second half.

A.J. Stewart moved from receiver to quarterback and guided the Bears on two scoring drives, with Slaton scoring on a 21-yard touchdown in the third quarter and Tanner Pellissier running in a one-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The win kept three streaks alive.

Merced hasn’t lost to Golden Valley since a triple-overtime defeat in 2005.

The Bears won their 18th consecutive CCC game.

Merced also closed the regular season with six victories.

The biggest thing was keeping the Mayor’s Cup for the 10th straight year.

“It’s great,” Slaton said. “The seniors got on us. Many of them are emotional right now. They wanted it bad.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 12:03 AM with the headline "Merced holds onto Mayor’s Cup for 10th consecutive year."