‘Special’ victory: Apaches lean on special teams for opening win

GONZALES — Before Gonzales’ win over Orange Grove Saturday, the Apaches under head football coach Kodi Crane have not returned a kick for a touchdown on a kickoff. The special teams unit sought out that goal and achieved it right away at Week 1, as the Apaches scored two touchdowns on special teams in their 21-20 victory over the Bulldogs.

“We won from [special teams], absolutely,” Crane said. “Coach [Efrain] Garza takes a lot of pride in his special teams. He told our kids, ‘since we’ve been here, we have not returned a kickoff for a touchdown and lo and behold, we returned a kick for a touchdown.”

After Orange Grove tied the game midway through the third quarter, Trevion McNeil, the primary kick returner for the Apaches that game, returned an 86-yard kickoff for a touchdown, to give Gonzales the 21-14 lead.

That would be the special teams unit’s second touchdown of the day. Late in the second quarter, Kalub Carrizales picked up a forced fumble on a kickoff and returned it for a touchdown.

Penalty flags were a problem in the game, as officials blew their whistles multiple times for various infractions.

“The pre-snap penalties were unreal,” Crane exclaimed. “We’d scored [if it weren’t for] pre-snap penalties, so we’re going to go to work on that.”

Penalties killed the Apaches’ first offensive drive, as they got to Orange Grove’s 11-yard line before two straight false starts pushed the team back to the 21. The drive would end on a Marvin Cardoza interception at the goal line.

Cardoza had his first varsity start at quarterback Saturday, as he used his speed to scramble and get away from defenders.

“I thought he did some good things,” Crane said of Cardoza. “And obviously there are some things that he’s got to improve, but he did some good things and made plays whenever it mattered the most.”

The junior quarterback was sporadic with his passing, though he found Matthew Velasquez-Banda down the sideline for a 31-yard snag on a third-and-long play. The Apaches then ran four straight times, two rushes by James Martinez then two more with Colby Cox behind center under the Apaches “hog” formation, to get their first score of the game.

Though they found some success on that drive, Crane knows his team’s rushing needs improvement.

“We’re not pleased with our rushing,” he noted, “that’s something we got to go to work and get better.”

Defensively, the Apaches pressured Bulldogs’ quarterback Coleman King, who took some hits from the Gonzales’ front. King was able to find the end zone a few times, with a touchdown throw late in the game to put the Bulldogs within one from the Apaches.

Bulldogs’ head coach Scotty Pugh opted to go for two, with 1:21 left in the game, instead of going for the extra point to tie it. Earlier, Cox blocked an extra point after the Bulldogs’ first touchdown in the second quarter.

Crane, admittedly, wasn’t surprised at Pugh’s decision.

“If they were going to beat us, it had to be right there,” Crane said. “Everybody was tired and exhausted. Everybody was done.”

King found Ethan French just shy of the goal line as the Apaches forced a stop, keeping the 21-20 lead.

An onside kick recovery and a few kneel downs later, the Apaches would start the year off 1-0 with the victory.

“During this entire game, I had a big sense of calm,” Crane admitted, “even when it was 0-0, even whenever they scored, even when they go score at the end. I have a big sense of calm and it’s not because of anything but the hard work and dedication that these kids have put into it. I feel like whenever you put that, it means more and I really believed that someone was going to step up and make a play and that’s exactly what happened.”

Picked to lose, the Apaches pulled off the upset again, but the win wasn’t the most important thing for Crane.

“All I care about is we’re improving daily,” he said. “Whenever we start district, we got to play the best that this football team can play — not last year’s, not two years ago, not five years from now — that this football team can play and that’s what we got to do as a coaching staff.”

Gonzales travels to Austin to take on Crockett High (0-1) on Thursday.