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Monterey Trail bounces back with convincing home win

By Ben Brown, Elk Grove Citizen, 09/11/15, 1:30AM PDT

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Last year, the Monterey Trail High School football team was the Cinderella of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.

The No. 12-seeded Mustangs sprang two road upsets en route to a semifinal appearance.

One of those road upsets was to the Mustangs’ opponent on Friday night, Merced.

The game between these two schools last year was a shootout thriller with Monterey Trail surviving, 51-46, in the Division I quarterfinals.

While this year’s game was anything but a shootout, the result was still the same.

Monterey Trail was able to control the game on the ground and sealed it with a touchdown in the final minute to top the Bears, 24-7, at Mark Macres Memorial Stadium.

“We had a much better technique this week after watching film on our first game and in doing so I’m hoping we got better as a team,” said Monterey Trail head coach T.J. Ewing, mentioning a season-opening 28-0 loss to Antelope a week earlier. “Both teams this year were a lot different because we both lost a lot of guys, but we were still able to come out on top.”

The Mustangs were able to slow down the up-tempo offense Merced likes to run by simply doing what they do best: pound the football.

“The way we run offense really helps and how we call plays can really slow down teams that like to throw it around,” Ewing said. “At the end of the day you have to do what you do and trust the system and go to sleep and feel good about things.”

Although the Mustangs dominated the time of possession and kept the Bears’ offense at bay, there were also a few miscues that prevented the game from completely being one-sided.

Monterey Trail gave away possession twice within Merced territory on an interception and a fumble.

“We played great. We still have a lot of things we need to work on but at the end of the day we won and that’s what matters,” said Monterey Trail linebacker Neville Bood. “As a team we need to work on staying together and building on our camaraderie to maintain success throughout the season.”

Now at 1-1 overall this season, Monterey Trail closes out the nonconference portion of the 2015 schedule with a rivalry game against Florin on Friday. The winner receives the annual Mark Macres Memorial Trophy.

Monterey Trail beat Florin 69-0 last season.

While the season is still relatively young, Ewing is encouraged with his team’s progress in the first two weeks.  

“We need to keep teaching fundamentals over and over again,” he said. “and hope that we can focus on what we do and get better.”