PREP FOOTBALL 2016: Numbers don’t favor Mustangs in loss to St. Helena

It is a numbers game for the St. Vincent football team, and the numbers do not favor the Mustangs. Saturday they added up to a 55-28 North Central League I loss to St. Helena.

This despite a school-record receiving performance from Michael Davis, who caught six passes for a record 229 yards and four touchdowns.

Playing on their home turf on a hot but not blistering afternoon, the Mustangs were very much in the game, down just 22-14, with a minute and a half until a much-needed halftime breather, before a buzzer-beating 36-yard touchdown connection from Saints quarterback Dylan Martin to Javier Garcia upped the score and took much of the spirited air out of the Mustangs.

St. Vincent’s lack of depth and experience caught up with the Mustangs in the second half and they trailed, 49-14, before they rallied for two late scores against a largely second-team St. Helena defense.

That St. Helena has a second team says much about the difference between the two teams. St. Vincent began the game with 17 active players, and wilted in the heat and the hitting.

“It’s a numbers game with us,” acknowledged St. Vincent coach Gary Galloway. “We seem to put together a quarter and a half and then fade off. We have to get where we put three or four good quarters together.”

St. Vincent’s quarter and a half of excellence came early Saturday.

They stopped a St. Helena drive at the 2-yard line on the first of two Will Davis fumble recoveries and proceeded to march 98 yards in the opposite direction, helped by a roughing-the-kicker penalty that kept things moving when they appeared to have given up the ball deep in their own territory.

Given extra life by that call, St. Vincent struck quickly with the Smith brothers (quarterback Will and running back Mike) combining on a high-definition clear 64-yard pitch-catch that had upset visions floating through the St. Vincent stands.

St. Helena wasted little time tangling the score, going 79 yards in just seven plays, with the majority being earned by running back Niko Lopez, who romped for one gain of 32 yards and then scored the touchdown from the 3-yard line.

Still in that happy quarter-and-a-half zone, St. Vincent used the Davis-to-Davis combo to go back in front midway through the second quarter. This time it was a 31-yard connection with receiver Mike Davis making the grab between two St. Helena defenders and running unmolested goalward as the Saints sprawled on the turf.

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, the good time apparently expired at that point. The rest of the game pretty much belonged to the Saints.

Lopez started an 80-yard drive with a 33-yard run and finished it off with a 1-yard scamper. The touchdown, followed by a two-point conversion, gave St. Helena a 22-14 lead, but left the Mustangs still hopeful and very much in the game heading into a much-needed halftime.?Unfortunately for St. Vincent, the half wasn’t over. Three plays and as punt gave St. Helena four seconds, and, in half the time it takes a cowboy to ride a bull, the Saints scored on a 36-yard hit from Martin to Garcia, who simply ran right by the slower Mustang secondary for the score that sealed the win for the Saints upping their halftime advantage to 29-14.

St. Helena scored in the first 30 seconds of the second half, and the assault was on. Two more third-quarter touchdowns made the count 49-14.

There were some bright spots for the Mustangs in the final period as Will and Michael Davis hooked up for two more scores, one a 57-yarder and the other a 52-yard strike to ensure the older brother a school record.