High School football: Mink accounts for six touchdowns in Stevenson’s win over Santa Cruz
PEBBLE BEACH — There are objectives moving forward that go beyond this season for Stevenson. Of course, reaching those goals starts with meeting expectations in the present.
“What I’ve been talking about is building and sustaining something that allows us to plan,” Stevenson coach Kyle Cassamas said. “Our numbers are allowing us to play at this level. The goal is to get to the next level — perhaps a higher division.”
What has been consistent over the last five years is the Pirates in the hunt for a Santa Lucia Division title, as once again they are going into their final three games of the season undefeated in league play after Saturday’s 59-14 win over Santa Cruz.
Stevenson, who won the title in 2022, is one of three teams still undefeated in league, joining Pajaro Valley and San Lorenzo Valley, who is 6-0 on the season.
“Things will start to shake out,” Cassamas said. “Our concern right now is Pajaro Valley. We’re not looking past anyone. We are far from completing the mission.”
The mission Saturday was to play four quarters of football. While the Pirates (4-2) put up a season high 59 points, Cassamas still believes the best version of his team has yet to show up.
“Last week I asked the kids if they felt we had played a complete game,” Cassamas said. “The answer was ‘No’. We knew this was something we could improve upon. We wanted to play our best version of football, bring some fun back with it.”
With his core at the skilled positions fully intact, quarterback Fin Mink took advantage of his weapons, throwing for 346 yards and five touchdowns, while rushing for 85 yards, including a 65-yard touchdown run.
Mink found Derek Diniz for two touchdowns on 85 receiving yards. He also connected with Grady Roth six times for 80 yards and a touchdown, Flint Dickson three times for 85 yards and a score, and Caden Olson on a 32-yard touchdown pass.
“We see how the schedule is shaking out,” Cassamas said. “We moved some people around in different places today. We got a chance to prepare for the future.”
Tono Borgamini provided 61 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Tommy Dayton added a touchdown run, while finishing with 15 tackles on defense.
“Seeing our depth take shape with the injuries we dealt with earlier in the season, we know we can move people around the field and feel good about it,” Cassamas said. “It’s given us some clarity on our personnel.”
San Lorenzo Valley 48, Marina 7: Starring at an early deficit, the Cougars warmed to the weather Saturday afternoon in Felton, running off 48 unanswered points to improve to 6-0.
Having improved in the win column in each of the last three years, San Lorenzo Valley is one of two teams left in the Pacific Coast Athletic League that is undefeated, joining Carmel at 6-0.
Tri-leaders of the Santa Lucia Division with Stevenson and Pajaro Valley, the Cougars will not meet Stevenson until Nov. 2 at San Lorenzo Valley. Marina, meanwhile, is still looking for its identity, dropping to 1-5.
“Moving forward, it’s day-to-day, not week-to-week,” Marina coach JD Dennis said. “The mistakes we make are coming in practice. We have to clean that up first. We weren’t mentally or physically in-tuned at practice this past week.”
Yet, whatever was said in pregame, Dennis needs to bottle that for four quarters as Marina opened the game with a six-play, 80-yard drive, highlighted by Elon Espinosa connecting with Titus Calvera on a 34-yard completion.
Raju David capped the impressive drive when he took a snap out of the ‘wildcat’ formation and gave Marina a 7-0 lead with a 4-yard touchdown run.
However, a turning point in the game came with 10 seconds left in the first half when the Cougars, holding a 14-7 lead, scored on a 70-yard pass. Momentum quickly swung when SLV took the second half kickoff and scored to open up a 28-7 cushion.
“That was like a 14-point swing,” said Dennis, who guided Marina to a school record seven-win season in 2022. “The emphasis in practice has to be about energy. That’s on me. I need to challenge myself as well. We will make some changes.”
Marina will look to snap a two-game skid next Friday when it visits Santa Cruz, who has dropped 19 straight games dating back to 2022.
“We will show up on Monday and have forward thinking,” said Dennis, whose practice facility off campus has no lines, no goal posts and an abundance of gopher holes, as its new field on campus is being installed. “We don’t dwell about the past.”
