Gauchos Win '08 Opener
The 2008 football season has officially begun for preseason #15 Glendale Community College. GCC opened up the season last night on the road against four-year school American Sports University (ASU). ASU is coached by legendary California HS legend Don Markhum and his famed double wing offense.The Gauchos made the journey out to San Bernardino, California Saturday night and came away victorious. The defense pitched a shutout and the offense capitalized on good field position as GCC was victorious 34-0. The defense held the famed rushing attack all night long, only allowing ASU to cross the 50 yard line just once. In fact, the Gauchos held ASU to 34 yards on the ground on 40 total carries and gave up 69 yards in the air for a total of just 103 yards on the night.
Defensively, defensive lineman Alex Licano, linebackers Adam Beauchamp, Jarrid Nash and Mckonnen Anebo all had standout games according to head coach Mickey Bell. "Defensively, we made it a priority to stop their run game. Upfront we got after them and kept their run game off balance," Bell says. Defensive lineman Danny Gurrola and linebacker Tim Lyerla both recovered fumbles which allowed the offense to start with good position. LB Adam Beauchamp picked off a pass in the 3rd quarter and returned it 35 yards for a score. All in all, the defense forced a total of four takeaways. "We always put a big emphasis on takeaways and that showed tonight," Bell comments.
Offensively, the Gauchos used a dynamic run game led by tandem of Jordan Scott and Mike Williams. The Gauchos totaled over 200 yards rushing on just 30 carries. Scott also doubles as the teams punt returner and according to coach Bell, he's dangerous. "We put Jordan back there, because of how dangerous he is in the open field. He was close to breaking a couple of big returns tonight." Williams scored two touchdowns on the night, both on runs from inside the 10 yard line. This season the Gauchos feature a big offense line anchored by all-region returner Adam Stewart and returning starters Brandon Harris and Mark Vukadinovic. Quarterback Tyler Hosler also had a good night, hitting open receivers to keep the defense off balance and honest. Hosler hooked up with wideout Jimmy Goad for two touchdowns on the night.
As always GCC puts a huge emphasis on special teams and that emphasis showed in the opener. "There are three parts to football, offense, defense and special teams, we put a ton of emphasis on our special teams play at GCC and our kids take pride in it." Kicker Brian Bonilla routinely put ASU deep in their own territory and punter Winston Venable averaged 45.3 yards a punt.
Overall it was a good opening contest for the #15 ranked Gauchos, but coach Bell knows the season is early. "It's good to get the first one out of the way, but we have a ton of things to work on before we are ready to line up and play Mesa."
The Gauchos are now 1-0 on the season. They have a bye next week but have their home opener September 13th against Mesa at 7:00 pm.
