The Campbell Reporter

Sports

Solid defensive outing helps Del Mar remain undefeated in 2007 campaign

By Greg Lydon

Defense, defense and more defense.

The Del Mar varsity football team stayed undefeated in front of its home fans Saturday afternoon behind a big-time effort from its defense, and two lengthy offensive drives helped propel the Dons to a 26-0 shutout over Gunderson.

"Defense won the ball game for us today," Del Mar head coach Eric Buran said after the win. "Every player on our defense made the plays when we needed them to, and we got a huge victory at home against a tough Gunderson team."

Two goal line stands helped the Dons fight off Gunderson from putting any points on the board, in a huge defensive effort slowing down Gunderson stud tailbacks Roger Rose and Chris Eke.

Rose came into the contest averaging over 100 yards per game, but the team defensive effort led by the dominant defensive end tandem of Samir Sabic and David Ruiz helped slow the Gunderson attack. Middle linebacker Thomas Johnson flew around the ball, causing problems all day for Gunderson.

After the goal line stand at the 2-yard line, Del Mar drove 98 yards to paydirt, finishing off the long drive with a two-yard touchdown run from junior Jordan Richardson.

"It feels great to see where we are now after how hard last year was for everyone," said Del Mar senior center Curtis Nielsen. "After the 98-yard drive, it boosted our confidence a lot. We wanted to move the ball all day after that."

Quarterback Anthony Cukar threw two touchdown passes for the Dons, including a back pylon touchdown strike to wideout Bob Schooler.

Tailbacks Stephen Salerno and Cory Sullivan also scored on the ground for the Dons, who improved to 4-0 on the season as the winless 2006 campaign is looking like a distant memory.

"Our defense making plays pumps us up," Nielsen said. "We wanted to put the ball in the end zone after the work they put it with the goal line stops."

After a goal line stand forced Gunderson to turn the ball over on downs at the 4-yard line, Del Mar iced the game with a eight-minute scoring drive ending with a huge fourth quarter touchdown.

"Today was a great win for us, but going into next week we still need to correct the mental mistakes that hurt us today," Buran said. "We missed two point-after attempts and had way too many personal foul penalties against us."