Gallery • 14 Photos

J. Dollins

The Yellowjackets emerge from the tunnel for the first time in Colton High history. Gabriel Aparicio and Damian Sanchez bear the flags of school pride.

Colton, CA—In the first quarter against Rosamond, the Yellowjackets defense had just given up a 16-yard touchdown pass on the Roadrunners’ first possession. After a fumble put the Roadrunners on Colton’s 14 yard line, on the first play of the second drive, Rosamond’s quarterback Tristen Sowell ran the ball to the Colton two.

Immediately, Ray Rodriguez called a timeout. The team huddled up on the field, and defensive coordinator Myley Herrera tore into them.

“When are you going to wake up and play!”

This was the turning point for the Yellowjackets. On the next four plays, the defense pushed the Roadrunners back to the seven yard line before Mateo Barboza intercepted Sowell’s fourth down pass.

Colton never looked back, and the defense held Rosamond scoreless the rest of the way as the Yellowjackets defeated the Roadrunners 29-6.

With his second huge game of the season, running back Damian Sanchez led the way with 149 total yards on 22 carries, scoring two touchdowns and two two-point conversions. He even brought it on the defense, grabbing an interception to stop a late fourth quarter drive by the visitors.

Back from injury, Nathaniel Martinez showed what he could do in the backfield, rushing for 48 yards on seven carries and breaking through for his first touchdown of the season in the second quarter.

“It’s good to be back running the ball,” Martinez said. “To not feel scared and feel proud of myself, and, you know, just have fun out there.”

The rushing attack was strong for the Yellowjackets, and quarterback Gabriel Aparicio got in on the fun, running for 45 yards and punching his way through the Rosamond defense in the fourth quarter for a touchdown of his own.

After the game, the team wasn’t satisfied with the victory on a few different levels, the most important of which was an injury to one of their teammates.

During the third quarter, an injury to a Colton player stopped play for close to thirty minutes. Paramedics were called to the scene, and the student-athlete was carefully escorted off the field and taken to the hospital for further tests. Players on both sides of the field were concerned and took to forming prayer circles with their teammates. Rosamond’s visiting fans encouraged their team from the stands to pray. For Colton, the captains brought their teammates together and lineman Ryan Villalpando led them in prayer for their friend.

In addition to concerns about their injured player, coaches were not happy with the Yellowjacket’s play in a game they felt should have had a larger margin of victory.

“I feel like there’s things that we practice on a daily basis,” said Coach Rodriguez. “We work tackling drills every day, and the tackling was horrendous. We work on catching routes and all that stuff everyday and our hands for our receivers are just bad–they just drop the balls. The quarterback’s throwing to them, and the quarterback’s missing throws.”

Rodriguez is happy with the running game right now, but he wants a more balanced attack from his team. “They just need to execute.”

This victory puts Colton at 1-2 on the season with their next game against Big Bear scheduled for next Friday, September 9 at Memorial Stadium. Game time is at 7:30 p.m.

Game Notes:

The Pepper Bough would like to thank Fernando Meraz for donating his winnings in the evening’s 50-50 raffle to the newspaper. The kind gesture received an ovation from the large crowd, and nearly brought Mr. Dollins, who received the donation on behalf of the Pepper Bough, to tears.