By Allan Jamail
Friday, October 16, 2020 at the Galena Park ISD stadium the, 5A District 11 Yellow Jackets offense swarmed the visiting Sterling Raiders to even their record to 2 – 2.
Spiro Amarantos, Head Football Coach/Athletic Coordinator and the team suffered a major blow early in the season when senior quarterback Gabriel Pagan was injured and will miss the rest of the season. This forced Amarantos to restructure his offense using less experienced players at quarterback and the need to create new offensive plays with little time to practice them.
Coach Amarantos and his coaching staff have done a remarkable job with the new offense that gained 506 yards for 7 touchdowns and a field goal. A’marion Kelly and Raul Gonzalez, both juniors were used at quarterback. Raul Gonzalez completed 3 of his 5 pass attempts for 62 yards and a 60 percent completion average.
The three leading rushers were A’marion Kelly, 160 yards, Arturo Garcia, 105 yards and Jose Barrientos , 100 yards. Junior kicker Fernando Mendoza was perfect 7 for 7 and a 3 point field goal.
The Jackets’ swarming defense kept the Raiders with just 300 plus yards. They sacked the quarterback numerous times, caused a fumble they recovered and defensive back Keiran Sheppard made a pass interception.
Coach Amarantos is a 1989 Galena Park graduate and was a three- year letterman on the varsity football team and played as a cornerback and receiver.
The Yellow Jackets travel to Madison (Houston, TX) to take on the Marlins in a district game on Saturday, Oct. 24th, 6:00 pm at Cowart Stadium.