It was Senior Night at Townsend Field for the Santa Clara Bruins and they played gamely in a 41-14 win for the Gunn Titan Football squad in a game that was closer than the score indicated.
“That was the strangest 41-14 game I’ve ever been involved in,” said Gunn Head Coach Bob Sykes after the game. “For the first three quarters every time we looked like we would get control, Santa Clara came back. They have some really good players who battled. I wasn't comfortable until midway the last two touchdowns.”
The Bruins were led by senior quarterback Jordan Mott, wide receiver Marcus Barker and running back Kyle Ghazanfari. However, it was the Gunn underclassmen of juniors Josh Jackson, Henry Ayala, Anthony Cannon, along with sophomore Casey Jackson, that helped make the difference on this night.
Add to that a few key plays by Gunn senior Maceo Parks and the tough running of Jonathan Godoy helped key the El Camino division win that improved the Titans record to 4-1 in league play and 6-3 overall. The win clinched Gunn’s first winning season since a six win campaign in 2003.
This was a win the Titans earned on the ground as they rushed for a season high 389 yards on 47 carries.
The ground game was led by Josh Jackson who tallied 100 yards on 13 carries. Behind him were Godoy with 78 yards on 14 rushes, Cannon with 77 yards on eight runs, Parks with 72 yards on three carries, 72 yards on 13 carries and Casey Jackson who had 64 yards on 10 carries.
The first half Gunn spent their time solely on the ground as the first 25 plays were running plays. On their second possession they went 70 yards in 10 plays with Josh Jackson scoring from five yards out. Paul Blanchette made the extra point to give a 7-0 lead with 1:34 left in the quarter.
However, on the kickoff, special teams letdown allowed Ghazanfari to go 95 yards for a touchdown. Ayala blocked the extra point to keep the Titans up 7-6.
A deep kickoff pinned Gunn at the six and the Titans went on the march again as they went 94 yards on 12 plays, all on the ground, with Casey Jackson going in from nine yards outs.
After an exchange of punts, the Bruins started at their own four yard line after a 47 yard punt by Blanchette. On third down Parks intercepted a pass at the 15, the first of four for the night for the Titans, and returned it to Santa Clara’s 13.
After a 12 yard run by Josh Jackson, Cannon snuck in from the one as Gunn went up 20-7.
Santa Clara, though, came right back and at midfield, Mott hit a streaking Barker for a 30 yard gain as only a touchdown saving tackle by Casey Jackson kept the Bruins out of the endzone.
However, that drive was stalled when Elias Baker intercepted a Mott pass as the score stayed at 20-7 at half.
The second half saw Santa Clara drive 65 yards and on third and 13 from Gunn’s 21, Mott hit Barker in the endzone for a touchdown, the Bruins followed up the score with a two point conversion pass from Mott to Ghazanfari to cut the score to 20-14.
With five minutes to go disaster struck for Gunn on a double handoff when Casey Jackson fumbled and Santa Clara recovered at the Titans’ 40.
But Ayala came up with the first of his two picks to get the ball back for Gunn as he took a Mott pass for an 18 yard return to give Gunn the ball at Santa Clara’s 48.
After Josh Jackson carried for 11 yards, Parks ripped through the middle for a 37 yard score to give Gunn some breathing room at 27-14.
The Bruins, though, refused to quit as they marched deep into Gunn territory only to be stopped at Gunn’s 18 when Ayala intercepted his second pass of the night with 1:30 left in the third quarter.
Gunn then went 82 yards with the first 67 coming on the ground before a 15 yard play action fake from Cannon to Blake Johnson to put Gunn up 34-14 with 8:48 remaining in the game.
Blanchette then squibbed the kickoff and the loose ball was recovered by Nikki Cardema at the Bruins’ 33.
On the very first play Cannon executed a perfect fake handoff and went 33 yards for the second Titan touchdown in 12 seconds to make the final score 41-14.
Next up for Gunn will be their own Senior Night as the Titans host Cupertino on Friday November 13, at 7:30 PM.
