MONTCLAIR — When Chaffey’s No. 2 ball carrier, junior Alexis Almeida, went down with an injury in the first half Friday night, No. 1 ball carrier senior Carlos Vasquez knew he was in for a heavier workload.
He proved he was up to the task.
Vasquez rushed a career-high 29 times for 140 yards and a touchdown and added a touchdown on defense as Chaffey defeated host Montclair 27-10 in a regular-season finale.
The victory gave Chaffey (5-5 overall, 2-1 league) second place and the final automatic playoff spot out of the Gano League ahead of Montclair (4-6, 1-2). Montclair will have to wait until Sunday to see if the Cavaliers earn an at-large berth.
“I knew they were going to be tough, because they’re well-coached. They’ve made a lot of strides as a program,” Chaffey coach Chris Brown said. “Schematically, they’re really sound against our offense. I’m proud of the fact we played patient, we held onto the ball. We controlled the clock. We played better defense (than earlier in the year).”
Vasquez said he knew he would get the majority of carries once Almeida went down.
“A little bit,” said Vasquez when asked if he was tired. “I could do it again, though. I just had to pick it up for my team. Five yards and a cloud of dust.”
“He runs hard. Gets 4 to 5 yards. I like that kind of back,” Brown said.
After Chaffey went out to a 14-0 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Vasquez and a 5-yard run by quarterback Noah Stewart (the first of his two), Montclair’s best chance to get back into the game came late in the first half.
Montclair drove down to a first down at the Chaffey 12, but instead of scoring a touchdown, had to settle for a 26-yard Jayden Bacerra field goal that brought the Cavaliers within 14-3 with 32 seconds left in the first half.
“That was definitely a lost opportunity,” Montclair first-year coach Tony Gomez said. “Hindsight is 20-20, and it’s like, maybe we should’ve went for it (on fourth down). But we’re getting the ball after the half and we score and it’s 14-10.”
Montclair had some momentum, but not as much as the Cavaliers would have liked. But they could build on that after receiving the second-half kickoff. But on the first play from scrimmage, Vasquez intercepted a tipped pass from Montclair quarterback Damien Pacheco and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown and a 20-3 lead.
“I got it and I thought, ‘let me just try and make something happen,’” Vasquez said.
Pacheco got Montclair’s lone touchdown on the ensuing drive on an 8-yard run on fourth-and-1, but Chaffey scored on its next drive and Montclair had only two possessions in the fourth quarter.
It was a tough end to the regular season (and possibly the entire season) for Montclair, which improved from a 2-8 season a year ago. But the Cavaliers were penalized 18 times for 189 yards and consistently had drives stymied by penalties.
“Our motto was, ‘we win and we’re in,’” Gomez said. “We knee we were going to face a tough Chaffey team. … It ends up taking a toll on you. (Penalties) are what killed our momentum initially.”
