Mounties football report

The Mounties played a hard fought, but very sloppy game on Saturday in a 24-14 loss. They just couldn't get anything going offensively. Credit the Saddleback Gaucho defense for matching the Mountie defensive intensity, but more is expected from the Mounties.

It took the Mounties a while to get Jesse Canada into the mix and when they did, it was for big yardage. Quarterback Tyler Vanderzee said he felt fine and felt like he was able to go with the flow, but I think they didn't use their weapons effectively.

They didn't use their run game as effectively as they usually do and maybe it was the Gaucho defense, maybe it was lack of trust in Vanderzee, but they tried to incorporate the wildcat offense which didn't really work. It worked from a yard away to score, but really felt like it was going away from what the Mounties have done all year.

Maybe it was the absense of Matt Faulkner at QB. Vanderzee has played in big spots, but just didn't seem to get in a flow.

The defense was spectacular, but got a little bit careless at crucial times. Except for the flea flicker in the first half, the Mounties were able to stop just about every trick play the Gauchos drew up. But again, a big personal foul on Bruce Irvin (You really can't blame the guy for playing with passion and aggression, but the refs did) and a facemask call when the Mounties seemingly had the goal-line stop to win the game cost the game.

It's just one game and at the end of the day Saddleback has an outstanding squad, but it was a very winnable game that just slipped through the Mounties' hands. It was a very close game and on any other day the Mounties could get away with these mistakes, but the Gauchos were able to take advantage.

They have a bye-week coming up and plenty of time to regroup and get healthy. Coach Jastrab will let thim ponder on this loss, fix the mistakes and have them ready for the next game against Citrus.