Carlo Sterni runs the ball while his teammates block.

SUTTER CREEK, CA (MPG) - The Galt High School football team made the trip up into the foothills to Sutter Creek on Friday night, and what awaited the Warriors was a fast start from Amador that they could never quite answer. The host Buffaloes scored early and often, turning a pair of recovered onside kicks and a handful of Galt turnovers into a 49-12 victory under the lights.

The tone was set on the opening kickoff. Rather than booting the ball deep, Amador went with an onside kick and recovered it, immediately putting the Warriors' defense on a short field. The Buffaloes needed less than a minute to punch it in, and just like that Galt was chasing the game.

The Warriors answered in the most emphatic way possible. On the very next play from scrimmage, senior James Gilbert took the handoff and ran it all the way in for a Galt touchdown. The celebration was muted, though, when the snap on the extra-point attempt sailed over the holder's head, leaving the Warriors with six points and a 7-6 deficit instead of a tie.

James Gilbert with a miraculous one-handed catch.

From there, Amador's offense found its rhythm. The Buffaloes put together another scoring drive that ended with 7:47 still left in the first quarter. A Galt interception then handed the ball right back to Amador, which took possession again with 4:23 on the clock and promptly scored once more. The Buffaloes followed that score with another onside kick — and recovered it again — keeping the pressure squarely on the Warriors.

Amador ran it in once more with 1:13 remaining in the opening quarter, and by the end of the first period the Buffaloes had built a commanding 28-6 lead. The Warriors were forced to punt to begin the second quarter, and Amador capitalized once more, scoring on a quarterback keeper with 3:38 left in the half to push the margin to 36-6.

Galt's next possession ended in another interception with 1:41 on the second-quarter clock, and Amador turned it into yet another touchdown to take a 42-6 advantage into the locker room. With the score where it stood, a running clock greeted both teams at the start of the second half.

Amador received the ball to open the third quarter and found the end zone again with 10:56 left in the period, stretching the lead to 49-6. To their credit, the Warriors never stopped competing. Early in the fourth quarter, still trailing 49-6, Galt put together its best drive of the night. A series of fantastic catches moved the Warriors into scoring range, and senior quarterback Robert Rubio finished it off with a quarterback keeper for a touchdown. The two-point conversion failed, but the score stood at 49-12 with 10 minutes left to play.

Mark Grammer catches a kick off.

Amador was forced to punt with 6:30 remaining in the game, but the deficit was too large to erase. When the final horn sounded, the Warriors had fallen to 49-12 on a night when field position and extra possessions told the story.

“Amador took advantage of our mistakes,” Head Coach JJ Woodward said. “And when you have three onside kicks go against you, you’re giving a good football team extra possessions and putting your defense in some really difficult situations. That’s tough to overcome. But I was proud that our kids kept battling.”

Amid a difficult night for the team, senior James Gilbert delivered one of the brightest individual performances of the season and was named the Warriors' Warrior of the Week.

“He was outstanding for us, rushing for 117 yards and a touchdown on just eight carries, including an 80-yard run, and he added four catches for 21 yards,” Woodward said. “He finished with 138 yards of offense and also contributed defensively.”

“James has been one of the guys we can count on every week,” Woodward said. “No matter what the scoreboard says, he competes, plays physical and gives us everything he has.”

Galt finished the night with 224 yards of total offense, splitting that almost evenly between 153 yards on the ground and 71 through the air. The Warriors ran 23 times for an average of 6.7 yards per carry and scored two rushing touchdowns, but they were undone by two interceptions and the field position they surrendered on special teams.

Richard Akers hauls one in for the Warriors.

Rubio completed 6 of 12 passes for 71 yards with two interceptions, a completion rate of 50 percent and an average of 11.8 yards per attempt. His longest completion covered 28 yards. He also carried three times for 11 yards and a touchdown on a keeper.

Gilbert did the bulk of the damage on the ground, carrying eight times for 117 yards and a touchdown, an average of 14.6 yards per attempt, with his 80-yard scoring burst accounting for most of that total. Sophomore Sean Mace added five carries for 14 yards, Rubio had three for 11 and a score, sophomore Ricky Akers ran twice for nine yards and senior Carlo Sterni carried five times for two yards.

Through the air, Gilbert led the Warriors with four receptions for 21 yards, an average of 5.3 yards per catch and a long of 16. Akers turned his lone catch into a 37-yard gain, and freshman Ben Gilbert added one reception for 13 yards. Gilbert's 138 all-purpose yards accounted for well over half of Galt's 224 total yards on the night.

Defensively, Akers led the Warriors with seven total tackles, six of them solo. Gilbert, junior Bowdyn Beck and junior Dominick Gonzalez each finished with four tackles, with Gilbert making three solo stops and Gonzalez adding two solo and two assists. Sterni had three tackles, two of them for loss, while senior Taylor White and senior Axel Olmos Virgen finished with three tackles apiece. Junior Richard Geier, sophomore Alfonso Lira, freshman Ben Gilbert and Rubio each added two tackles, with Ben Gilbert credited with a tackle for loss, and Mace chipped in one. As a team, Galt recorded 37 total tackles, 21 of them solo, with three tackles for loss.

The loss drops the Warriors into the heart of their league schedule, and Woodward's message after the game was clear: the fight his players showed — particularly Gilbert, who competed to the final whistle — is the foundation the team will build on moving forward.