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Gustine quiets the badgers in homecoming victory
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Gustine offense lines up at their endzone on their way to scoring another touchdown on Friday, Sept. 13 at Gustine High School. The Reds beat Yosemite 42-27.

Friday night was another special night for the Reds as they celebrated their homecoming and first win at home this season. This year the Reds faced Yosemite High School and were able to celebrate homecoming with a 42-27 win. 

 

The game started smoothly with both teams being tied 7-7. Gustine went down 13-7 with five minutes left in the first quarter after the Badgers scored on a completed pass.

Going into the homecoming game is always a distraction because everyone in school wants to win that big of a game for their school, especially the seniors.

 The Reds were able to kick it into gear in the second half scoring back to back. Big plays ended the third quarter with running back Joao Palomino running a 40-yard touchdown, then Mike Saaranzin running a 50-yard TD and Osiel Torres catching the 2-pt conversion putting the score at 28-7.

"I thought the game was going to be like Delta, but at first we had to get our motivation going, and then in the second half we were able to put it in motion" Palomino said. 

 

Following the big road win against Delta last week the coaches were staying on pace and keeping the team in the same mentality.

"Going into this week we just tried to keep them healthy, we have low numbers so practicing appropriately and keeping the kids in shape and making sure the kids aren't getting too banged up is a big part of it" Coach Collin Lane said.

Alex Quezada, Saaranzin, and Daniel Navarro have added a lot of help.

 "Navarro runs on the ground really well, he runs the offense and has been making all of the right reads" Lane states.

QB Daniel Navarro owns up to his mistakes stating "in the first half I had mistakes here and there but in the second half I was able to correct them. My teammates are to thank for helping me and pushing me through them and if I make a mistake they are there to help me fix it". Navarro had four passing touchdowns. 

 

To finish off the night strong, the Reds scored the final two touchdowns. Saaranzin had another long run and Austin Etheridge scored a pick-6 to end the game 42-27.

"We came out of halftime at the level we can play at, we started with 16 players, and by the end of the night we were down to 15 and we were still able to compete the whole time" Lane said. 

 

The Reds take on the Mariposa Grizzles at GHS on Sept. 20. The JV game starts at 5 p.m. and varsity at 7 p.m.

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The Reds captains from left: Joseph Sifuentez, Mike Saaranzin, Austin Etheridge and Daniel Navarro. The Reds won their homecoming game Sept. 13 by defeating Yosemite High 42-27.