MidValleySports.Com

Kevin Amezquita…Enough said!

(Citrus College) – Kevin Amezquita rushed for 90 yards and two touchdowns and threw for another 134 to lead Gladstone to a 19-13 win over Sierra Vista Thursday night. The Gladiators improved to 5-0 (2-0 in league) with the victory.

It was all Amezquita in the second half. After Sierra Vista took a 13-11 lead late in the third Amezquita immediately led the Gladiators down the field. He broke a couple of tackles on his way to a 30 yard run down to the Sierra Vista 21 yard line. A late hit out of bounds moved the ball down to the 11. Two plays later Amezquita scored on a 10 yard run literally running over a defender at the goal line.

While he did a lot of damage with his legs in the second half, he did it with his arm in the first. On Gladstone’s first drive he hit Sergio Torres for 26 yards and Christian Arteaga for another 18. He capped the 68 yard march with a three yard run and then ran it in again for a two point conversion and an 8-0 lead.

“He is where our offense takes us. He ran it with his legs even they knew what we were going to do,” said Gladstone Coach Albert Sanchez.

The Gladiators chewed up nearly seven minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter mainly behind the running of Amezquita. They moved the ball from their own 20 to the Sierra Vista 45 before punting the ball away.

The Dons got the ball back at their own 29 with 1:44 left and moved it down to the Gladstone 44. But they inexplicably spiked the ball on fourth down with three seconds left and Gladstone secured the win.

Gladiator D bottled up Sierra Vista’s Lee Jones.

“They have some good players over there. They battled us and fought hard. You can’t take anything away from them,” Sanchez said.

The Dons cut the lead to two late in the second quarter. The Dons drove 50 yards on plays with Lee Jones doing the bulk of the work. Jonathan Mora hit Sergio Gonzalez for a five yard touchdown pass to finish it.

Gladstone took over on its own nine yard line on the ensuing possession and moved the ball down to the Sierra Vista 17 where the drive was halted. Eduardo Cortez booted a 34 yard field goal as the clock ran out ending the first half.

Sierra Vista took advantage of a running into the kicker penalty after the Dons had punted early in the third. They got the ball back and then took a 13-11 lead when Gonzalez picked up his second TD of the night on an eight yard.

But G-Stone settled down and Amezquita took over.

Arteaga caught five passes for 53 yards for Gladstone and Chris Ramirez hauled in two receptions for 47 yards.

Jones was the workhorse for Sierra Vista carrying the ball 31 times for 129 yards. However Jones left the game with 1:05 left in the third with an injury. Abram Castillo had nine carries for 55 yards.

Sierra Vista fell to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in league.

SV 0  6  7  0     13

G   8  3  8  0     19