In San Marcos’ Senior Night matchup against Dos Pueblos on Friday, it was junior Nate Jones who stole the show.
Jones led the Royals’ rushing attack and hauled in two interceptions in San Marcos’ 28-7 victory over the Chargers in the 57th Battle of the Goodland at Warkentin Stadium.
The performance, which included 98 rushing yards on 17 attempts, earned the junior running back and safety the Jeff Hesselmeyer MVP Trophy. Hesselmeyer served as the head football coach at both Dos Pueblos and San Marcos.
“I’m really happy for Jones, that’s a special award,” San Marcos coach Ralph Molina said.
The win marked the first for the Royals (3-5, 1-5) in Channel League play and snapped a five-game losing streak. Meanwhile, the Chargers (3-5, 1-5) have now lost back-to-back games.
“There were a lot of ups and downs with those five losses,” Jones said. “It’s hard losing five games in a row. I’m proud of my guys that we just stayed together and we got this team win.”
The game started quietly, with both defenses flexing their muscles early in the rivalry matchup to send it to the second quarter with a 0-0 tie.
Following a 44-yard bomb down the sideline from Danny Diaz to Quin Donnell, the Royals’ offense found itself inside the Dos Pueblos 20-yard line, threatening to score.
However, Charger defensive back Zach Gesswein had other plans. Gesswein jumped in front of a San Marcos pass and came away with an interception inside his own 10-yard line.
“We’ve been getting better on defense,” Dos Pueblos coach AJ Pateras said. “The kids are practicing really hard and we’re getting better.”
Just two plays later, Jones countered back with an interception of his own from the safety position, and after the return, the Royals were back at the 21-yard line of the Chargers.
“We’ve turned the ball over six times in two games and you can’t do that,” Pateras said. “We can’t give them short fields and have the defense keep playing 70% of the game.”
San Marcos took advantage of the turnover, running the ball on six straight plays and capping off the drive with a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Jones. Following the extra point, the Royals held a 7-0 lead halfway through the second quarter.
On the ensuing drive, San Marcos got a huge fourth-down stop from its defense as Luke Crawford stopped Dos Pueblos running back Kaleb Williams to force a turnover on downs.
“I knew defensively, we’re pretty good,” San Marcos coach Ralph Molina said. “We knew that they were going to try to go off tackle on us and we had a good week of preparation for it.”
However, the Royals missed a 39-yard field goal and the game remained at 7-0 heading into the halftime locker room.
At halftime, San Marcos football honored alum and 7-time NFL Pro Bowler Alex Mack by retiring his jersey No. 65. His number is the first to be retired by the Royals.
The Chargers came out of halftime with a bolt of energy, driving nine plays down the field into San Marcos territory, where quarterback Gonzo Murillo found Nathan Warren in the back of the endzone for a touchdown, tying the game at 7-7 with 7:45 to go in the third.
“[Murillo] is leading our team and he’s keeping us in good positions and we just gotta execute better collectively,” Pateras said. “What we’re getting out of Gonzo is impressive and we need to surround him with plays to make ourselves more competitive down the field.”
On that drive, Dos Pueblos got 23 yards rushing from Williams. He ended the night with 30 carries for 115 yards to lead the offense.
“[Williams] is a tough son of a gun, he is a workhorse,” Pateras said. “He’s weathering himself to understand how to play at the intensity of the Channel League.
“We can run the ball against anybody, we’ve shown that, we just gotta be able to complement that.”
While the Chargers seemed to have gained some momentum, the rest of the game was all San Marcos, beginning on the very next drive.
After a 14-yard run by Jones, a 13-yard scamper from Kieran Babai and a 19-yard keeper by Robert Simentales, the Royals found themselves at the Dos Pueblos 2-yard line.
Following a two-yard loss, Simentales once again took it himself for a 4-yard rushing touchdown to put San Marcos back out on top, 14-7. Simentales took nine carries for 46 yards on the night.
“I saw my boys working hard for everybody and I just had to make a play,” Simentales said.
Dos Pueblos once again struggled to move the ball on the next drive, managing just nine yards, punting the ball back to the Royals and sending the game into the fourth quarter.
The Chargers then forced a punt from the San Marcos offense, and the Royals responded by forcing yet another turnover on downs, this time shutting down a quarterback sneak attempt on 4th and 1.
“Defensively, we played an intense four quarters, but we moved the ball on offense and that made a big difference,” Molina said. “I think we wore them down in the second half.”
The Royals once again took advantage of great field position as Charlie Angeles put the finishing touches on an 8-play drive with a 2-yard rushing score to extend the lead to 21-7 with 5:35 to go.
Trailing by two scores now, the Chargers turned to the passing game in hopes of a comeback.
Jones had one more big play in him, however. On the first play of the drive, the safety rose up and came down with his second interception of the night to give his team a chance to put the game out of reach.
“Last week I was a little antsy, coach told me I was playing the run too much so I stayed back a little bit and had a little bit more trust in my guys,” Jones said. “They did their thing and I just happened to get those two picks, it’s all about trusting your teammates.”
The offense did just that, as Joseph Herrera ripped off a 23-yard run and Simentales connected with Crawford on back-to-back passes, including a 13-yard touchdown in the corner of the endzone, bringing the score to 28-7.
“We were switching up what route to do based on what their corner was doing, so I saw my coach give us the go and I executed,” Simentales said of the touchdown pass.
Herrera finished with 58 yards rushing while Crawford totaled 32 receiving yards.
“This is definitely going to help Simentales’ confidence, especially those good throws in the fourth quarter,” Molina said.
The Chargers couldn’t answer and the clock ran out, giving San Marcos its second straight win over its Goleta rival.
The Royals will host Oxnard next week while the Chargers have a meeting at home with Santa Barbara High.