St. Vincent strikes quickly to beat California School for the Deaf.

Mustangs end losing streak with win over California School for the Deaf.|

St. Vincent High School’s Mustangs scored twice within 13 seconds in the second quarter to defeat California School for the Deaf, 20-14, on its home turf in Fremont on Saturday afternoon.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Mustangs, improved their record to 5-3 for the season and assured them of a winning record in Trent Herzog’s first year as head coach. The Mustangs have an unwanted bye this week as their planned opponent, Madison Park Academy of Oakland, canceled its season.

The loss was just the second of the season for CSD, opposed to five wins.

St. Vincent was clinging to a 7-6 lead when Diego Reyes recovered a fumble at the CSD 18-yard line. It was one of five turnovers forced by the CSD defense.

On the first play following the fumble, St. Vincent reversed to wide receiver Marcus Matthias, who went the 18 yards for the score.

On CSD’s first play following the kickoff, defensive tackle Connor Yowell sacked the quarterback, Reyes forced a fumble and sophomore defensive tackle Andrew Pech picked it up and raced 36 yards for another Mustang touchdown.

Within a period of 13 play-clock seconds, the St. Vincent lead went from a tenuous 7-6 to a game-controlling 19-6, with one conversion kick by Jack Belway good and one missed.

CSD scored on the game’s first drive, with Miles Gonzalez throwing 12 yards to Jaden Reader for the touchdown. St. Vincent stopped a 2-point conversion run.

CSD wouldn’t see the end zone again until late in the game, when Gonzalez hit Leonardo Vergara with a 35-yard scoring pass. It was the only touchdown of the second half in the hard-played game.

St. Vincent answered CSD’s opening drive with a march of its own in the first quarter, scoring on its first possession on a 9-yard pass from Shamus Edens to A.J. Fetter. Belway’s boot gave St. Vincent a 7-6 lead that stood until the Mustangs’ two-touchdown blitz in the second period decided things.

Edens was the driving force behind the St. Vincent offense, completing 10 of 15 passes for 78 yards and the touchdown to Fetter and rushing for 72 yards.

Defensively, Giovani Antonini had six tackles and Devaneaux Sagaral five.

Marcus Matthias came up with his seventh pass interception of the season to rank him among the state leaders in pass thefts.

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