Watsonville High receiver Fernando Olivarez sprints away from a pair of San Lorenzo Valley defenders after making a catch during the first half Saturday in Felton.

FELTON — The Watsonville High football team went against conventional wisdom. The rewards for the risk were a win and new Santa Cruz County offensive records for receiver Fernando Olivarez and quarterback Jerry Alvarez.

A 65-yard touchdown pass from Alvarez and Olivarez on fourth down cemented a 60-51 victory for the Wildcatz against host San Lorenzo Valley on Saturday. It was Alvarez’s record seventh touchdown pass of the game and it gave Olivarez new single-game records for touchdown receptions (six) and receiving yardage (310).

According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, which is the county’s official scorekeeper, SLV’s Matt Murphy held a record of six passing touchdowns since 1989, while Monte Vista Christian’s Matt Griffin set the receiving yardage mark (281) in 2006 and SLV’s Matty Kiel set the receiving touchdowns mark (five) in 2004. Coincidentally, both Griffin and Kiel’s marks were set against Watsonville.

Register-Pajaronian statistics credit Olivarez with even more yardage (321) on 11 catches in Saturday’s game. Watsonville coach Tom Sullivan said he would review the game film to determine Olivarez’s exact statistics. Olivarez, who had broke the Wildcatz single-game receiving yards record in a 10-catch, 217-yard performance against Santa Cruz two weeks earlier, was coming off not making a catch against rival Aptos.

Olivarez said he was a little upset after that game, when he was double- and triple-teamed. He switched his number from 4 to 7 for the SLV game, but said he thought he might be in for another tough game when the Cougars put an extra defender on his side early in the game. Instead, he caught touchdown passes of 63 and 17 yards in the first half, then scored on his last four receptions of the second half, with the scoring plays going for 57, 39, 26 and 65 yards.

“I think he made up for last week,” Watsonville coach Tom Sullivan said with a smile. “He played hard. We’re proud of him.”

The last touchdown came after a bold decision by Sullivan to keep his offense on the field on fourth down and six yards to go from its own 35-yard line. The Wildcatz (3-1) were up by three points and there was a little more than two minutes remaining in the game. Teams almost always punt in that situation, but instead Alvarez dropped back to pass, scrambled away from pressure, then heaved the ball downfield just before taking a hard hit. As it had over and over again, the ball found Olivarez, who caught it and raced into the end zone, silencing the SLV homecoming crowd.

“I just ran as fast as I could for this team,” said Olivarez, one of the Monterey Bay League’s top sprinters last season.

“You don’t necessarily plan for (that situation),” Sullivan said. “With this group the situation was our defense was on their heels a little bit so we decided to put in in their hands of our playmakers.”

Sullivan added that if the play had been unsuccessful, he was confident the defense would have come through.

“My coach was telling me they had faith in me, they believed in me,” Alvarez said. “I thank them for giving me the chance on fourth down.”

Also for Watsonville, running back Tony Mora had two 4-yard touchdown runs and Nestor Marana had a 20-yard touchdown catch. Alvarez finished 21-30 for 395 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception.

The Wildcatz have scored a Monterey Bay area-high 151 points this season, and are averaging 37.8 points per game. They have scored 103 points in the last two games. The defense, meanwhile, has given up at least 20 points in every game this season, but did come up with a pair of interceptions against SLV.

Watsonville trailed 29-18 late in the second quarter after SLV’s Trevor Romele returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown, but scored three straight touchdowns to take a 40-29 lead. SLV (1-2-1) cut the lead to four points three times, the last one coming on a 75-yard touchdown pass on a trick play to Nick Gorman with 3:05 remaining in the game. Each time, the Wildcatz answered with a touchdown pass from Alvarez to Olivarez.

It was Watsonville’s first win over SLV since 2003.

“It was a great battle,” Sullivan said. “Momentum switched so many times. It was a great experience. It’s always great to come out on the winning end.”

Watsonville has a bye this week, before hosting Reno, Nev., on Oct. 9.

•••

North County 14, Alvarez 0

Fernando Guevana had a 50-yard touchdown run and Carlos Gonzalez caught a 2-yard touchdown pass for North Monterey County, which won its third straight game.

“I’m excited,” Condors coach Sean Gomes said. “I didn’t know what to expect going (into the season) because we didn’t have much experience. But it seems the senior kids who didn’t play much on the varsity team last year have really stepped up and the young kids have really helped a lot.”

It was a season-low in points for North County (3-1), which is second in the Monterey Bay area with 146 points. The Condors have benefited from a speed infusion from Guevana, a junior, and sophomore Michael Lopez, giving it a dimension it hasn’t had the past few years, Gomes said.

“At any point we feel we can break one,” he said.

After allowing 44 points in a season-opening loss, North County’s defense has allowed just 21 points in the last three games combined. Alvarez had a golden chance to score when it had first-and-goal inside the 5-yard line, but after getting caught behind the line of scrimmages and the teams exchanged some penalties, it eventually missed a field goal.

Linebacker Joey Reynolds led the team in tackles, including “quite a few” behind the line of scrimmage, with A.J. Jimenez, Francisco Celaya and Lopez each snaring an interception.

“The defense stepped up,” Gomes said.

Alvarez (1-3) has lost its last three games.

North County has its home opener Saturday against King City.

•••

St. Francis 51, Stevenson 7

Chad Lucas and Max Crowley each had a touchdown run and a touchdown catch for the Sharks against Stevenson Saturday at Cabrillo College.

“He came on pretty strong for us this week,” St. Francis coach Joe Gregorio said of Crowley. “He played fullback for us, and gives us another kid who can run the ball.”

Jacob Miller, Zack Saucedo and Nick Maitoza added one touchdown apiece, and Ty Sambrailo kicked a field goal. Dylan Kinion completed 9 of 12 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns.

The Sharks (3-1) have won three straight games heading into their SCCAL opener Saturday at SLV. They have allowed just 41 points, the second-lowest total in the Monterey Bay area for teams that have played four games.

“We’re getting better at what we need to do,” Gregorio said. “We’re getting better at our blocking, getting better at our assignments.”

Stevenson dropped to 0-3 on the season.



Share on Facebook