Medina powers Arvin to first round playoff upset of Shafter

Photos by Henry Barrios

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BY STEPHEN LYNCH

SHAFTER—There were a lot of reasons to believe the Arvin football team didn’t have much of a chance to win its Central Section Division 5 first round playoff game against Shafter.

However, they all quickly dissipated into the brisk autumn air after a stellar first-half performance by underdog Bears.

Powered by a dynamic running game, Arvin jumped out to 28-2 halftime lead and then held off a furious second half rally by the fifth-seeded Generals to post a 41-30 victory on Friday night.

“I’m just extremely proud of the kids,” Arvin coach Edgar Mares said. “They played hard for four quarters. The second half they (Shafter) got a little bit of momentum…but our kids didn’t fold. Kept their heads up. And we responded.”

The #12 Bears (6-5) will face #4 Strathmore, who beat Taft 28-20 on Friday night, in the quarterfinals.

Arvin will go into that game riding high after upsetting a Shafter squad that had won five games in a row heading into Friday night’s action.

Sandwiched in the middle of the Generals winning streak was a 43-22 victory over the Bears.

Arvin quarterback Gil Medina made sure there wasn’t a repeat of that result.

The 5-foot-11, 150-pound senior gashed the Shafter defense for 308 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

Medina did most of his damage in the first half.

After being sacked in the end zone for a safety during the Bears second offensive possession, he responded with a barrage of long gains including touchdown runs of 60, 10, and 94 yards.

With Medina leading the way Arvin scored touchdowns on four straight first-half offensive possessions and racked up 309 rushing yards prior to intermission.

Trailing 28-2, Shafter’s Leo Fernandez returned the second half kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown.

Less than three minutes later, following an Arvin punt, the Generals trimmed the Bears lead to 28-16 on 9-yard TD run by quarterback Jackson Sanchez.

Despite a fumble that setup a late third quarter 36-yard touchdown run Junior Casas, Shafter kept battling.

The Generals (6-5) cut the Arvin lead to 35-23 with 3.5 seconds left in the third quarter on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Sanchez to Felix Chacon.

Then after quickly forcing another Arvin punt, Shafter struck again early in the fourth quarter with Sanchez breaking through the middle of the Bears defense and racing 56 yards for a touchdown run, making the score Arvin 35, Shafter 30.

Still trailing by five points Shafter got the ball back with 3:51 left in the game. But after a three-yard loss by Sanchez, backed the Generals up to their own 8-yard line, the senior signal caller threw a pass over the middle that was snagged and returned for a 15-yard touchdown by Casas.

The senior running back/outside linebacker had a fumble recovery on defense earlier in the game.

“I was told to stay back and watch anything that comes around,” Casas said of the play in which he made the interception. “So, that’s exactly what I did. We were supposed to push. And what I did, was I held. And I read exactly what the quarterback was doing.”

Sanchez finished 26 of 42 for 233 yards passing. He also ran 19 times for 180 yards.

His three second-half touchdowns (two rushing and one passing) just weren’t enough to offset the Generals sup-par first half performance.

“You cannot, not show up in the first half,” Shafter coach Jerald Pierucci said. “We were not mentally ready to play the entire first half. We weren’t ready to play. It took us until the second half to warm up. And then when you’re down 28-2 the road to comeback is so thing and perfect that you have to walk down, there’s no margin for error. They did a good job scheming us. Hat’s off to them. (Medina) did a really good of making plays. It’s tough because I know what we’re capable if we come out and play with passion. And it wasn’t until the second that we did. Against like Arvin, that’s going to grind you and work you, you just can’t do that.”

Medina’s 94-yard TD run demonstrated his toughness and determination. After initially breaking free up the middle he veered to the left down the sideline, where several defenders tried and failed to bring him down as he powered his way toward the end zone.

“I had to make sure we won,” Medina said. “We needed a playoff victory. We haven’t had one in a while.”

Both Medina and Casas said they had extra motivation for their match-up against Shafter.

“Everybody doubting us was one of the main things that pushed us to strive and keep going,” Casas said.

Medina agreed with that assessment.

“Being known as underdogs makes us want it to win even more,” Medina said.