Alam Ramirez shines in Coast Union’s fourth straight loss

Led by the aggressive running of senior Alam Ramirez, who scored the first two touchdowns of the season for Coast Union — the initial tally on a 65-yard scamper — the Broncos showed they are beginning to come together as a football team Saturday, Sept. 24 at Riverdale Christian Academy in the San Joaquin Valley.

The Broncos came away from the game on the short end of a 55-15 score, but there were several positives in that defeat. Ramirez, injured for the first three games of the season, gained 201 yards on the ground and set the tone for Bronco ball carriers by putting his head down and forcefully attacking defenders as they moved in for the stop.

On a number of plays Ramirez made yardage after first being hit. Head coach Thom Holt commented that Ramirez “is a competitor and just instinctively knows where the holes are. He should have had two more scores if he just had faith in his speed to bounce to the sideline.”

On defense, junior Riley Kennedy led the team with 12 tackles and three assists. Junior Eddie Camacho is credited with seven tackles and two assists, and senior Warren Smith snagged six tackles and added an assist; he also recovered a fumble and blocked a point-after attempt by the Ambassadors, according to stats kept by the KTEA-FM broadcast team.

Sophomore Gary Lyons had three tackles; senior Anthony Stonehill had one tackle; junior Ivan Favila had a tackle and an assist; junior Manny Molina had a tackle and four assists; junior Juan Meja had a tackle and three assists; junior Diego Leonardo and freshmen Emany Plasencia and Damian Fernandez each had solo tackles in the game.

Left-footed Plasencia got off some booming punts for the Broncos and kicked a field goal, the first three-pointer — and in fact the first points of the season — for Coast.

Holt said that this game showed that 10 afternoons of practice (the cancellation with the Cate game gave the team two weeks of practice) paid off for his young, inexperienced team.

“We have about 20 kids who have never played or even watched football,” he said. “I hope the community will support these kids because they are working hard. It’s work to build a program.”

Still, the team needs work on pass blocking and learning to anticipate when the opponent plans to blitz, Holt continued. Yes, he’s encouraged by the progress but admits, “We still have a long way to go.” .

On Friday, Sept. 30, the Broncos travel to New Cuyama for a 7 p.m. game, the opening game of the Coast Valley League schedule. That game will be broadcast on KTEA-FM (103.5).

This story was originally published September 28, 2016 at 8:26 AM with the headline "Alam Ramirez shines in Coast Union’s fourth straight loss."