For a brief moment on Friday night, the Mountain View High football team looked like it was in control.
Just 20 seconds into its away game against Wilcox, Spartans wide receiver Lex Silver scored a 74-yard touchdown on a trick play misdirection that gave Mountain View (3-2) a 7-0 lead and belief before the Chargers emphatically responded with a 60-yard touchdown 46 seconds later en route to a 45-14 victory.
“We wanted to get on the board early to give our kids some confidence,” Mountain View head coach Tim Lugo said. “They did a good job taking it away from us afterward.”
Wilcox (3-2) scored 21 straight points in the first quarter alone through its well-known ground game scheme with misdirection that eats up the clock and gives the other team few possessions. Wilcox quarterback Tyson Bonilla was a dual threat throughout the game and kept the Mountain View defense off-balance, rushing for 208 yards and four touchdowns while completing nine-of-12 passes for 80 yards. Bonilla had touchdown runs of 60, 27 and eight yards in the first quarter, with Wilcox taking a 28-7 lead into the half.
“We thought we could play with them,” Lugo said. “We feel like we had taken a step as a program, but we are not there yet. Wilcox is extremely well coached, and we talked about that all week.”
The Spartans eventually found some success in the fourth quarter through an eight-play drive that saw running back Diego Ortega-Gerow score from seven yards out with 6:17 left. Running back Daniel Tejada was the primary ball carrier on the drive, rushing for 26 yards on one play to keep the momentum going, while Ortega-Gerow ran for a key first down on fourth-and-one just outside the Wilcox red zone.
Lugo highlighted Wilcox’s technique and good decision-making that shows up on film in contrast to the Spartans’ missing big-play passing opportunities in the first quarter that could have changed the game. He noted the team needed to build confidence and consistently execute in all phases of the game.
“They do the right things all the time, and we talked to our guys about that,” Lugo said. “That’s the level we are trying to get to, where we can do the right things all the time.”
With the nonconference part of its schedule over, the Spartans face a demanding conference schedule in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division, with its homecoming game against Burlingame scheduled 7 p.m. Friday. Lugo’s expectations are still to make the playoffs and to improve on the two consecutive playoff semifinals the team has advanced to. The Spartans lost to Branham 66-45 in the Central Coast Section Division IV semifinal game last year and were up 45-44 in the middle of the fourth quarter before being outscored 22-0. The team had 20 returning players this season, and most starters returned on offense and defense.
“We were six minutes away from playing for a title, and we are trying to get six minutes better,” Lugo said.
