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Aaron Cantu - Spartan Quarterback






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Schurr holds off California



Schurr High School's Abraham Gonzalez bulls his way through the line against California. Gonzalez caught two scoring passes in Schurr's 28-23 victory. (Photo by Mario Villegas)
By RON GUILD, Sports Editor

Story Published: Oct 1, 2010 at 1:03 PM PDT



Abraham Gonzalez has been forced to accept more of a load lately for the Schurr High School football team.

The senior running back/linebacker has been up to the task for a team dealing with depth issues due to injuries.

Gonzalez, who rarely came off the field, was at his best in Thursday’s 28-23 nonleague victory at California.

He turned screen passes from Aaron Cantu into 15- and 85-yard touchdown plays, the latter with 18 seconds left in the third quarter that proved to be the difference.

For good measure, he intercepted a Drew Castro pass with 2:35 left to seal the second consecutive victory for the Spartans, who will take a 2-2 record into next week’s game with St. Paul.

“Abraham was mainly a defensive player last year,” Schurr coach Ben Negrete said. “He’s been a two-way player this year since (starting fullback) Eric Magos got banged up (knee). He’s carried the load.”

Negrete is hopeful Magos will be back for St. Paul.

Gonzalez had 133 yards on four receptions and was the leading rusher with 67 yards on 18 carries, with most of the workload coming in the second half.

Cantu built on last week’s big game by completing 20 of 29 for 327 yards and four TDs. The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder, who has thrown for 620 yards and eight scores the past two weeks, began the scoring with a 24-yard strike to Alejandro Castro, then added a 33-yard TD pass to Chris Chiaromonte (seven catches for 87 yards) on the team’s second possession.

“He’s going to be playing on Saturdays (college) next year,” Negrete said. “He’s got Pac-10 and WAC schools recruiting him and has been to a couple of their camps. He’s a terrific kid who would be an asset to any program.”

California (0-4) hung tough with the Spartans behind Castro, the sophomore quarterback.

Castro (9-of-15 for 129 yards) scored the first Condor TD on a 24-yard run late in the opening period, then had 41- and 17-yard scoring passes to Maximo Gonzales, the latter trimming the Schurr advantage to five points with 6:46 remaining. Early in the second half, Cal recorded a safety after a high snap sailed over the head of Schurr punter Ricky Fonseca into the end zone.

“I really wasn’t happy with our coverage,” Negrete said. “Good teams are going to exploit that. It’s something we’ve got to tighten up.”