SALINAS — There were all sorts of big plays throughout Salinas’ 28-24 win over Aptos, a championship-worthy game that gave the host Cowboys a share of the PCAL Gabilan Division title, but it was Poe Gaskins who was most often in the spotlight as his Senior Night was one to remember.
Gaskins ran for three short touchdowns, including the go-ahead score with 2:18 left, and his interception in the final minute stopped a Mariner bid for a game-winning drive and clinched a second straight league title for Salinas (7-3, 6-1).
“I was just doing my job,” he said with a grin following the dramatic victory at The Pit.
His jobs vary throughout the night, from making plays in the secondary to lining up at wide receiver and, every now and then, getting the call in goal-line situations. He had a team-high nine catches for 120 yards, but it was his cameos in the backfield that led to scoring plays for the Cowboys, with three of his seven carries and 32 yards going for scores. The seven-yard score to cap off the go-ahead drive was the longest of his three touchdowns, and it gave his team the lead for the first time all night.
Things looked bleak for the hosts after an ingenious and gutsy trick play gave Aptos (8-2, 5-2) an 11-point lead with 8:09 left. Facing fourth and 11 at the 19, the Mariners chose to keep the offense on the field rather than take the field goal and a seven-point lead. Quarterback Hunter Matys deliberately spiked a backwards pass to catch the defense off guard, a lateral that hopped right to wide receiver Fisher Johnson, who doubles as Aptos’ backup QB. Johnson found Marcos Reyes in the end zone to suck the life out of the home crowd and open up a 24-13 lead.
Just when it seemed like Salinas was on the verge of missing out on the league title, falling to 2-4 at home and being sent on the road to open the playoffs, junior quarterback Carl Richardson, who has impressed time and time again, rose to the occasion. Scrambling away from a sack, he made the wise decision to throw short to the open Gaskins instead of take a chance on a deep ball, and it it turned into a 37-yard gain. On third-and-10 at the Aptos 17, Richardson connected with Zach Robison for another 14 yards, setting up a three-yard score by Gaskins to cap off a drive that took only 78 seconds. Richardson connected with Robison again on the two-point conversion, making it a three-point game.
Robison had just three catches on the night, but he made them count. Facing third-and-28 after a sack, Richardson found the big-play receiver in one-on-one coverage for a 40-yard gain, and while the Cowboys wouldn’t score on the drive, it kept the Aptos lead at just seven going into the half.
Still, with the way the Mariners can pick up yardage in a hurry and control the line of scrimmage, no team wants to trail them at halftime, and with Aptos receiving the kickoff to open the second half, the problems were quickly compounded. Gains of 15 and 28 yards by Marcos Reyes, who had a team-high 160 yards on 26 carries, forced Salinas to take an early timeout, and Aptos got all the way down to the 3-yard line before a delay of game penalty, a tackle for loss by junior linebacker Kyle Lawson and a pass breakup in the end zone by another junior, Isaiah Perez, forced the Mariners to settle for a field goal.
That’s when Gaskins started to take over. He was all over the 13-play, 73-yard drive to cut the lead to four, starting with a 16-yard reception on third-and-5. On the following set of downs, he got the call to pick up third-and-1, and a 21-yard completion on yet another third down brought the Cowboys down to the 14. With third-and-9 at the 13, he went on a 12-yard run, his longest carry of the night, and the 1-yard plunge on the following play capped off the drive and set the stage for further heroics.
“It’s fun to watch him,” Aptos coach Randy Blankenship said of Gaskins, who he took extra time to congratulate during the postgame handshakes. “He’s as quick as a hiccup.”
Had Aptos been victorious, Reyes and Matys would have been the ones who led their team to the inaugural PCAL title. The Mariners restored a two-score lead with a clinical 15-play, 80-yard drive, one that Reyes kicked off with runs of 13 and 11 yards. Matys connected with Casey Bailey on a key six-yard reception to keep the drive going, and facing fourth down at the 19, Blankenship and his staff pulled out one of the most daring playcalls the region has seen in ages.
Still, the Salinas defense had a shot at redemption after Gaskins’ touchdown and the two-point try. Reyes was stopped at the line on fourth-and-1, giving the Cowboys the ball at their own 41 with 4:53 left. From there, Richardson would shine. He started with a 19-yard completion to Chad Fellom, hooked up with Ivan Curiel for a gain of 11 and a third-down conversion and then connected with Gaskins on 11- and 8-yard completions. He was nearly intercepted on third down as Anthony Cardenas-Ramos came around the edge with heavy pressure, but the ball dropped to the ground.
“Our hustle caused guys that were going for the pick to collide,” said Blankenship. “You can’t stop them from hustling and flying to the ball. There’s no second thoughts on that one.”
Gaskins was given the ball on fourth-and-1 with hopes of moving the chains, but he did more than that, going up the middle for the seven-yard score to put Salinas ahead for the first time all night.
Aptos still had 2:18 and a pair of timeouts to work with, and Matys, who had been shaken up on defense during the go-ahead Salinas drive, wasn’t going to let that opportunity go to waste. He connected with Reyes for a gain of 14 and then brought the Mariners across midfield with a 13-yard completion to Johnson. A screen to Bailey gained eight more yards, but on the following play, miscommunication led to Matys overthrowing Johnson, and fittingly, Gaskins was the man on the spot. He picked off the pass to seal the game, and though he was deprived of a Kenny Wheaton moment when his return was stopped at the 42, all Richardson had to do after completing 26 of 36 passes for 313 yards was take one knee to clinch a second consecutive league title for the Cowboys.
“We just had to do what we’re coached to do,” said head coach Steve Zenk. “We were getting upfield and letting them kick us out.”
Even after the defeat, Blankenship was in a better mood than most would have expected.
“Just one hell of a football game,” he said. “That was fun to watch. I couldn’t be prouder. Losing sucks, and we may have lost the game, but I think I got a football team back tonight. Last week’s loss was out of character. Tonight, we just needed to make one more play.”
Though Reyes was stopped on a key fourth down, he still had a monster night, with touchdowns both on the ground and as a receiver. He also nearly threw for one. Aptos muffed an early punt but found redemption when Reyes recovered a fumbled snap, and the Mariners went on a 75-yard drive for the game’s opening score. Matys found Shane Modena for a 45-yard gain, and on third-and-goal at the 7, Reyes connected with Bailey after a double handoff, but he was ruled to have been stopped just shy of the goal line. Josh Powell punched it in from a yard out on the next play, but Salinas was quick to answer. Abraham Hernandez ran for a 27-yard gain, and Richardson found Curiel for the Cowboys’ lone passing touchdown of the night, a 54-yard strike over the middle.
With the win, Salinas and Palma share the league title, but the Cowboys do have the head-to-head tiebreaker. With Salinas bound for the Division I field and the rival Chieftains headed to Division III, there’s no chance for a rematch, but Aptos and Palma could meet again. The Cowboys could have a chance to avenge a loss, though, with San Benito as a possible opponent, perhaps even as soon as the quarterfinals.
