Sep 20, 2008 3 min read

Early on it appeared as if California was going to walk away with an easy, dominating win, but Geibel (0-2, 1-3) kept it close with a strong second-half performance. California (2-0, 2-2) opened the scoring on its second possession when quarterback DJ Martinak rolled to his left on a third-and-one play and hit a wide-open Wade Stinnett for a 30-yard score. Stinnett found himself alone behind the Gators’ secondary and was able to walk into the end zone after hauling in a perfect strike from Martinak.

On the Trojans’ next possession, Martinak took matters into his own hands when he scored on an 8-yard scramble around left end to give his team a two-score lead early in the opening quarter. The touchdown was set up on a 36-yard completion from Martinak to Bradley Tonini.

“DJ’s playing lights out right now,” California Coach Joe Kuhns said. “He’s a young kid, and he’s getting better week to week, just like everybody else is. He had one throw in the first half that hurt and changed momentum a little bit, but he’s learning. Overall he’s playing lights out.”

Martinak completed five of 10 passes for 95 yards and a touchdown with one interception.

The Trojans added two more touchdowns in the first half when Jordan Michaux and Devante Brooks scored on runs of 21- and 6-yards respectively. From that point on, California struggled to regain its rhythm offensively, as the Gators defense played a suffocating defense over the final two quarters. Michaux finished with a game-high 153 yards on 15 carries.

“We still haven’t developed that killer instinct yet,” said Kuhns. “We’re a young team, but we have to learn to not let teams back up like we did tonight. I mean, give credit to Geibel, not many teams would battle back like they did down 28 points in the first half, but we’ve got to learn how to finish teams off.”

The Gators got on the board late in the second quarter when quarterback Mick Betler connected with Nolan Zavora on a 68-yard score to close the gap to 28-7. They got together for another score early in the fourth quarter on a 6-yard strike to cut the deficit to 14.

“I guess that’s sort of been our emblem this year,” said Geibel coach Ron Marciante. “Three weeks in a row now we’ve fallen behind early and tried to comeback late. I just don’t understand why we can’t get them to come out and play in the first half like we do in the second half.”

“It’s tough because when you fall behind by 28 points they know you have to pass and they can just tee off on your quarterback, so it makes it difficult,” Marciante said.

Geibel takes on West Greene next Friday in another Tri-County South matchup, while California travels to Mapletown.