UPDATE: Davis rolls to seventh straight victory; quarterback out of hospital
Davis High came into Friday night’s home game against Lathrop riding a six-game win streak and a chance to gain control of the Western Athletic Conference
Head coach Tim Garcia and his team handled business early. The Spartans jumped out to a 19-point halftime lead and rode that to the finish in a 25-13 win.
The victory was tempered by an injury to Davis quarterback Jayson Munthe, who was taken off the field by stretcher and driven by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
Munthe appeared to hit his head as he was tackled at the end of a run. Medical staff came to his aid as players gathered in prayer before the hushed crowd Modesto Junior College Stadium.
Garcia could not characterize the specifics of the injury after the game. On Saturday morning, Garcia said all evaluations went well and Munthe left the hospital in good spirits Friday night.
With the victory, Davis improved to 7-0 overall, 4-0 in the WAC.
As for the undefeated season, Garcia said he doesn’t worry about that.
“I worry about the things that we can control,” he said. “I don’t want to get caught up in all the hype.”
Davis certainly lived up to the hype in the first half.
Daniel Ramos ran over would-be tacklers for the first score of the game with 8 minutes, 12 seconds left in the first quarter. Davis forced and recovered a Lathrop fumble on the ensuing punt at midfield and its offense scored on a two quick pass plays, the second a 20-yard touchdown pass from Jayson Munthe to Jose Sanchez.
Davis scored on its very next possession in one play when Munthe connected with Jordan Mendoza to extend the lead to 19-0 going into halftime.
While its offense put up points, the host Spartans’ defense shut down Lathrop. The visiting Spartans ran the ball on two long, first-half drives that had them inside the Davis 20. But Davis didn’t break, forcing two turnovers on downs.
“Going into this game we wanted to make sure that our alignment was right, Garcia said. “We wanted to make sure we put our kids in the right position, and let them flow and fly flight to the football.”
Lathrop (5-2, 3-1) wouldn’t go away easily. The Spartans came out of halftime and forced fumbles on three straight Davis possessions to start the second half.
“Usually, turnovers dictate the wins and losses, and we put our defense in tough spots all night long with those three turnovers.” Garcia said.
Just as in the first half, Davis’ defense stepped up, minimizing the damage to only two touchdowns in the second half.
Munthe completed 5 of 6 passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns.
After the injury, Sanchez entered the game at quarterback and led Davis on a 50-yard scoring drive, sealing it with a 4-yard keeper for its final touchdown of the game.
“We just had a feeling we would come out and ball out today,” said Sanchez. who had 55 total yards and two touchdowns. “We came out to play.
“We want to focus on getting better so we make sure that everything we do, we try to be better and better every day.”
Lathrop will look to bounce back next week against seventh place Johansen (1-5, 0-3).
After Friday’s win, the Spartans are all alone in first place.
“This is really what I came back for 10 years ago,” said Garcia, whose team plays winless Beyer next week. “I was very fortunate as a student-athlete to be surrounded by wonderful coaches and teachers throughout my time at Davis High School and I wanted to come back and give our kids the same opportunity to experience the same things I experienced.”
This story was originally published October 9, 2021 at 2:03 AM.
