It was a night of celebration all around for Dos Pueblos High School in its 49-6 football win over San Luis Obispo High Friday night at Scott O’Leary Stadium.
Not only did Dos Pueblos celebrate over 30 seniors playing their final season, they also welcomed back members of the 2001 team that made it to CIF finals, further than any other Charger team has ever made it before.
“Most of these guys I haven’t seen in like 15 years, so it’s great to see each other, talk, and catch up,” said Jake Engle, the starting left tackle on that 2001 team. “We as a team just kind of gelled and made plays when we had to. We didn’t win it all but we went pretty far and it’s an experience I’ll never forget.”
Coincidentally, San Luis Obispo was the team that beat Dos Pueblos in 2001 to win the CIF championship.
Friday night was an entirely different story.
Less than 3 minutes into the game, senior running back Blake Erwin punched the ball in from 1 yard out to put the Chargers on the board.
Dos Pueblos then recovered an onside kick, and Erwin capped off a 51-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown. A Josh Feldhaus extra point made it 14-0 Chargers.
San Luis Obispo then drove to the Dos Pueblos 4-yard line after a 74-yard run by Javon Montgomery. Montgomery finished the drive with a 4 yard touchdown run, and a missed extra point attempt made the score 14-6.
That was the last of the scoring the Chargers would allow. A 16-yard floater from senior quarterback Kellen Roberts to junior receiver Michael Elbert put the Chargers up 21-6 at the half.
The second half was much of the same, with Erwin taking the first play of the third quarter 46 yards for his third touchdown of the night.
Dos Pueblos scored a defensive touchdown on a fumble recovery in the end zone. Erwin scored his fourth and final touchdown on a 5-yard run to put the Chargers up 41-6. Erwin racked up 257 yards on 21 carries on the night. He also hauled in 3 catches for 28 additional yards.
“He’s just a fighter for yards,” Dos Pueblos coach Nate Mendoza said of Erwin. “He works his tail off getting extra yards after contact.”
In addition to Erwin’s stellar performance, the Chargers defense was outstanding, allowing less than 100 total yards to San Luis Obispo. The Tigers converted only 2 of 16 third downs, and punted 10 times.
“It was a great performance by our defense,” said Mendoza. “They continue to play excellent on that side of the ball. We really kept them at the 30 and 40 and they never really pushed the red zone.”
A late 14-yard touchdown catch by senior Cyrus Wallace and a successful 2-point conversion rounded out the scoring. Wallace finished with 9 catches for 71 yards and a touchdown.
Roberts completed 22 of 31 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns.
Dos Pueblos improves to 4-1 on the season and plays at undefeated Hueneme next Friday.
— Noozhawk sports reporter Christian Eckert can be reached at ceckert@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports and @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
