Monterey Trail Mustangs Win Homecoming Game

ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) – Despite starting the season 0-4, the Mustangs are now 2-0 in the Delta League after their home game win over the Sheldon Huskies on Friday, Sept. 27 for their Homecoming matchup. The final score was an impressive 47-0.

The tone was set early with two turnovers on the Huskies’ first two offensive drives that led to the Mustangs getting on the board early with a field goal and safety.

“Nobody ever wants to see that (turnovers),” head coach of the Mustangs T.J. Ewing said. “It’s just something that happens and if you’re on the other side of it you get excited about it but being on the other side is terrible. We took advantage of the opportunities.”

The first turnover allowed the Huskies’ defense to keep the Mustangs to a field goal, but on the second drive, a snap went flying through the Huskies quarterback’s hands and went past the endzone for a safety to go down 5-0 in the first quarter.

“That was it,” head coach of the Huskies Chris Nixon said about the turnovers. “We want to make sure that we don’t create turnovers, and we did that and a good team like this is going to take advantage of that.”

The Mustangs took advantage of these mistakes and then relied on the Mustangs’ run game to rack up points. Odie Jefferson rushed for 140 yards with one touchdown. Kaden Love started receiving the snaps in the second half and rushed for 66 yards with two touchdowns and Gabe Coronado rushed for 40 yards and one touchdown, according to MaxPreps.

“It’s gratifying for the players; these kids work really hard. I’m just proud of our kids with the school community coming out, alumni, homecoming so we wanted to see our guys perform and they did a good job,” Ewing said.

It wasn’t just the ground game, as quarterback Christian Coronado aired it out for 110 passing yards including a 71-yard touchdown to Denzell Butler to put the Mustangs up 26-0 right before halftime.

“We want to throw the football but it’s timing, it’s rhythm, investing into the pass game in terms of the talent on both sides with the quarterback and the receivers and it takes two to tango,” Ewing said.

The offense kept scoring while the defense reacted accordingly in order to keep the shutout, Ewing said.

“Guys reacting faster; kids were tackling lower instead of up on top of the shoulders and our preparation is better,” Ewing said.

Ulijah Usher had seven total tackles including two tackles for losses with a fumble recovery. Elijah Folau had nine total tackles including one tackle for a loss while causing two fumbles and one fumble recovery.

Interceptions were also present in the game as Isaiah Costley of the Mustangs picked off a Husky pass and ran it all the way back for an 87-yard touchdown. Devin Parrow would also pick off a pass, making a total of two interceptions on the night.

Nixon said that the defense for the Huskies was what allowed them to stay in the game.

“I thought the defense played well and I thought we were looking at a 9-0 ballgame if we hadn’t fumbled snaps, turnovers, kick-off returns, that kind of thing,” Nixon said. “Defense kept us in it for a bit but too little too late.”

Out of the positive things on offense, Nixon pointed out that the Huskies did a decent job of protecting the football, as he says it’s the most important part of high school play.

As far as their next league matchup against the Franklin Wildcats on Oct. 4, Nixon said they have to learn from their mistakes.

“We’ve got to regroup. We have to learn from our mistakes but turn the page as well and not dwell on things that are under our control that we can fix. We fix them and we move on,” Nixon said.

The Huskies are now 3-3 overall with a Delta League record of 1-1.

As for the Mustangs, they fell to 0-4 to begin the season but have been able to show up in league play as they have in the past couple of seasons.

“At the end of the day you can’t hide from the playoffs, so you have to prepare for that, and we always try to play teams that we feel like are a playoff-type team,” Ewing said. “We all know who’s open to play and we want to go test the great white shark.”

The next Delta League matchup for the Mustangs is the Pleasant Grove Eagles on Oct. 4, after press time, who are 0-1 in league and are coming off a bye week.

“Coach (Joshua) Crabtree is a great football coach, Pleasant Grove High School is a great school, and we played them in the past and it’ll be great to rekindle that and it’ll be awesome,” Ewing said.