Merced overpowers Gregori with explosive first half, securing first win of the season

After a tough loss to Patterson last week, Merced got back on track against Gregori on Thursday night.

The Bears scored five touchdowns in the first half, pulling away from the Jaguars early and winning 42-12 at Gregori High School.

Merced’s senior quarterback, Quintell Dupree, stood out from the rest. It took him only two quarters to do it. In the first half, he tallied 11 completions on 15 attempts, for 168 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 50 yards on eight attempts with a touchdown. On a designed flea flicker, he caught a 51-yard pass from his backup quarterback, junior Vicente Cortez.

“We knew he was going to be a challenge,” said Gregori head coach Lamar Wallace when asked about Merced’s Quintell Dupree. “He’s a dual-threat guy; the game plan was to make sure we could contain him.”

Merced’s entire offense was uncontainable, capitalizing with touchdowns on its first four drives of the game.

In the first quarter, Dupree connected with junior receiver/free safety Jeremy Garcia for a 22-yard touchdown.

The Bears’ defense appeared just as hungry, forcing a three-and-out for Gregori’s first drive. Merced got the ball back and marched down the field, with a 6-yard rushing touchdown from Dupree to extend the lead to 14-0.

“We just executed well,” Dupree said. “We set goals for ourselves: Be efficient in everything you do, give 100% every play,” he said.

In their third drive, junior running back/defensive end Cammari Jackson ran for a 9-yard rushing touchdown. After a fumble recovery on defense, it took Merced’s offense two plays to advance 54 yards downfield for a touchdown pass from Dupree to senior receiver/free safety Antonio Aaron.

Trailing 28-0, Gregori showed flashes of life, forcing a three-and-out midway through the second quarter. Senior quarterback Emmanuel Vasquez hit senior receiver/defensive back Kaeden Chanthamany in the back of the end zone to make it a 28-6 game with 4:56 left in the first half.

Merced answered with another score from Dupree to Aaron to go up 35-6.

INJURY ON DUPREE

In the final seconds of the second quarter, Dupree took a heavy block from a Gregori lineman and was down on the field in pain to end the half. “I was dizzy,” he said about the play. “I just couldn’t see. I was good, though.”

Dupree came out with the team for the third quarter and spent the rest of the game on the sideline.

When asked whether the decision was due to the injury or the score, Merced head coach Rob Scheidt said it was a bit of both. “You want to be cautious on that hit,” he said. “We felt like he was fine in terms of head injury. None of that was our worry.” He said they would’ve put him back in if they needed Dupree in the second half.

“I think it was a little bit of a scare to him,” he said. “Our kids read a lot about CTE and head management and concussion, and we’re talking about it all the time.”

“I was kinda mad,” Dupree said with a smile after the game about sitting out the second half. “We got a hard week next week,” he said. “Some of our guys get a little tired. We just got to execute the same thing we did, 100% every play.”

Scheidt and Wallace conversed on the handshake line about the play that ended with Dupree’s injury. “It was a football play,” said Wallace. “He (Scheidt) was a little emotional with it.”

Wallace said Scheidt was letting him know it wasn’t a reflection on him as a coach. “He was just protecting his guy just like I’m protecting mine,” he said. “It was nothing malicious, that’s not how we play, we’re not a dirty team. It was just a guy making a play at the end of the half. Broken play, things happen.”

Even before junior quarterback Vicente Cortez came in to finish the game, the Bears’ offense was spread out, with multiple players getting targets and rushing attempts. “Right away, we wanted to mix the ball around with different guys,” Scheidt said. “If you look at our scoring stats, you’re going to see our quarterback, both our running backs, a couple receivers get on the board. That’s ideal. It’s not always that way. You’re hoping that happens.”

MERCED BUILDING ON WIN

After a tough loss to Patterson last week, the Bears are looking to use their win against Gregori as a steppingstone.

“I think the Patterson game prepared us to play at a different speed than what Gregori had seen the week before,” Scheidt said. “We just want to keep building on that. I think finding our identity and establishing that is going to be very important. I thought we got a step closer tonight.”

After a decisive win against Buhach Colony last week, Gregori lost its step against a hungry Merced team looking for its first win. “We came out flat, we were sloppy,” Wallace said. “Gave them a lot of opportunities, and momentum swung their way real early. When adversity hit, we didn’t respond and didn’t play very good football tonight.”

Gregori hosts Atwater next Friday for what it hopes is a bounce-back week.

Merced looks to build off its win against Downey next Friday at home.