HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL MARIA CARRILLO OUTLASTS YUBA CITY, 19-10 PUMAS OVERCOME 10-0 DEFICIT,GILES SHINES ON OFFENSE, DEFENSE, SPECIAL TEAMS

Having lost a lot of last year's core leadership to graduation, not least All-Redwood Empire two-way star Sam Atoe, Maria Carrillo coach Jay Higgins was curious to see how his young team would respond in 2011. The immediate answer didn't thrill him.

The Pumas absorbed heavy punishment from Yuba City's ground game in the first quarter and quickly fell behind 10-0 on Saturday at Grant High School's William Rutherford Memorial Stadium.

By the end of this sweltering midday game -- part of the two-day Smackdown in Sactown event -- Maria Carrillo was looking at a 19-10 victory that bodes well for life after Atoe.

"All of us had some rust -- well, some of us had some rust, some of us had some jitters, our younger guys," Higgins said afterward. "Really, halftime was about reinforcing just basic responsibilities and helping guys understand what they're seeing and understand how their assignments fit, and then being more aggressive. We were playing it a little bit soft in the first half."

Yuba City got the ball to open the game and methodically marched 80 yards for a touchdown on the power running of fullback Nate Vandusen and the ball-fake trickery of quarterback Taylor Elkins. It was Elkins who highlighted the drive with a 39-yard scamper, and Vandusen who hit paydirt on an 11-yard run.

After the Pumas went three-and-out, the Honkers (yes, the Yuba City mascot is a Honker) went right to work again and drove 49 yards to a 32-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead. It didn't seem like it at the time, but the end of that possession signaled a turning point as Yuba City failed to reach the end zone after securing first-and-goal at the Maria Carrillo 6-yard line.

The Pumas closed the gap on their next possession, moving 64 yards and scoring on tight end Nate King's 15-yard scoring reception from Julian Gonzalez. King beat Yuba City cornerback Mark Schoel to the ball and spun into the end zone to complete the play.

From that point until about 2:30 remained in the game, the Honkers never got farther than the Carrillo 49-yard line.

The rest of the second quarter was more or less a standoff. The Pumas dominated the third quarter after making some halftime adjustments, but had only one touchdown to show for it -- a 4-yard scoring run by Garrett Koop that put the Santa Rosa team ahead for the first time, 12-10. Maria Carrillo missed both of its first two conversion attempts, one kicking and one running.

The lead could have been bigger, but the Pumas went about shooting themselves in the feet. A neutral-zone infraction and a false start helped snuff a promising opportunity in the Yuba City red zone after a Cody Giles return (and a face-mask penalty on the Honkers) set up the Pumas at the opposing 14-yard line on the second-half kickoff. And a drive that began late in the third quarter and spilled over into the fourth went sour in part due to a holding call.

It was of little consequence as the Maria Carrillo defense began to victimize Yuba City. Giles intercepted a pass early in the fourth quarter, and defensive lineman Wyatt Prior recovered a fumble to end the Honkers' last real scoring opportunity later in the period.

In between, Giles completed the offense/defense/special teams trifecta by darting 16 yards for a touchdown after a nice cutback move with 3:47 to play.

Yuba City is a Central Valley town accustomed to blistering summer heat, and the temperature climbed over 100 degrees on Grant's synthetic turf. Several players had to be helped off the field with leg cramps, and for a while the hot plastic seemed to be literally eating shoes. Junior linebacker/running back Sage Ritchie and senior defensive back/receiver Sartaj Sangha both had their cleats split open during the game; Ritchie's shoe virtually exploded.

Yet it was the Honkers who seemed to wilt. They had 172 total yards in the first half and just 48 in the second. The Pumas were more balanced, with 136 in the first and 134 after halftime.

"We outlasted 'em," Higgins said. "We were the better conditioned team. I told the kids at the end of the game that we won this game by maintaining our poise through some of the crazy situations that were happening in the second half, and conditioning."

If Higgins would prefer to have more seniors on his roster, this game may have allayed some of his concerns. Giles, Koop, King and Prior are all sophomores, and all of them seemed ready to play in the opener.

So, of course, did senior Anthony Ezrim. If anyone can come close to filling Atoe's shoes, it is the burly Ezrim, who anchors the Pumas offense at center and is a one-man destruction derby from his middle linebacker position on defense. Ezirm must have had close to 20 tackles Saturday, and he blew up several plays in the backfield by shooting the gap in concert with the snap.

"He was a great leader. He was a great player," Ezirm said of Atoe. "So me, along with some other seniors, we all got to step it up. I feel like the seniors we got, we can do it."

The Honkers finally found a way to stop Ezirm in the third quarter, injuring his knee with an illegal chop block. He didn't miss much time, though.

Gonzalez played capably at quarterback, completing 10 of 18 passes for 110 yards and leading Maria Carrillo with 61 rushing yards. Ritchie caught four passes for 49 yards, and Giles had four receptions for 43 yards. Most crucial, at least to Higgins -- his team didn't turn the ball over once.

The Pumas next host Benicia on Friday.

You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.