Pirates Dominate Mountain View

— Greenland had already shown Friday that it could dominate Mountain View on both sides of the football.

To add insult to injury, linebacker Matteo Barausse scooped up a fumble and returned it 17 yards for a touchdown with the Pirates firmly in control with 43.9 seconds remaining. It was one of those kind of nights for them.

Gamebreaker

Why The Pirates Won

Greenland jumped out to a 19-point lead in the first quarter, and the Pirates’ defense allowed only 76 yards of total offense and one first down as they took a 25-0 lead into halftime.

Why The Yellowjackets Lost

Mountain View could never get anything going offensively, and its defense had a difficult time slowing down Greenland running back Calvin Giddens, who finished with 20 carries for 139 yards and one touchdown.

Not much seemed to go wrong for Greenland as it built a 19-point lead in the first quarter, relied on its bruising running game and allowed its defense to take care of the rest in a 40-0 win.

“They just took it to us the first quarter,” Mountain View coach Matt Sullivan said. “We started playing a little bit, and I think we made some big mistakes that hurt ourselves in the first quarter.

“You give a good team a big lead, it’s hard to get out of a hole.”

Greenland (4-2, 3-0 3A-1 Conference) created an awfully large hole for Mountain View (0-6, 0-3) in the first half, and by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the Pirates had pulled their starters.

The Pirates dominated the first half, gaining 234 yards of total offense and 12 first downs while holding the Yellowjackets to just 76 yards and one first down.

Greenland running back Calvin Giddens had more yards than Mountain View at halftime, rushing 14 times for 109 yards. His 4-yard touchdown run with 1.5 seconds remaining in the first quarter put the Pirates ahead 19-0, and they never relinquished the lead.

“It’s just something we’ve been working hard on for the last three weeks, running the football because it opens the other stuff up. They were able to do it,” Greenland coach Lee Larkan said. “Giddens got a little gimpy and got a sprained ankle a little bit, (but) they did good.”

Giddens finished with 20 carries for 139 yards despite sitting out the fourth quarter, and he got help from quarterback Darian Froud, who had touchdown runs of 1 and 4 yards in the first half.

Froud rushed for 42 yards on 14 carries to go along with his 9-for-19 passing for 136 yards and one touchdown. That was more than enough for Greenland’s defense, which bottled up Mountain View’s running attack and allowed only five first downs.

“Defensively, we’ve gotten better,” Larkan said. “We watched film. The last couple of weeks Mountain View had really moved the ball well. They kind of scared me because they run right at us, and that’s s we’re kind of weak at.”

Mountain View had a chance toward the end of the first half to drive downfield and cut into Greenland’s lead after the Pirates were stopped on a fourth-down play in the red zone. But the Yellowjackets fumbled at their own 28-yard line on the next play.

Four plays later, Froud ran for his second touchdown, giving Greenland a 25-0 halftime lead.

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