Back in 1966 the folk rock group Simon and Garfunkel penned a song that had as its chorus “I am a... Living on an Island...

Back in 1966 the folk rock group Simon and Garfunkel penned a song that had as its chorus “I am a Rock, I am an Island.” And while we can safely assume that field goal kickers were the farthest thing from the duo's mind at the time of the lyrics' writing, rest assured, every kicker wearing a single digit on his back, that has lined up behind the offensive line with the game hanging in the balance has felt just that way . . . like he's on an island all by himself.

And for the good ones they're also a rock. That's what makes them money in the clutch. And Gilroy's Neil Martin is one of the money guys. He's downright good.

And two weeks ago against San Lorenzo Valley, Neil Martin missed just his second extra point of the year. But it was one that everyone would remember . . . no one more than Neil.

The Mustangs had pulled off an amazing comeback rallying from 21 points down at halftime and on the game's final play Gilroy scored a touchdown to pull within one point.

Initially Gilroy head coach Darren Yafai opted to go for the two-point conversion and the win. But a 5-yard penalty on offense got Yafai rethinking his options. He instead decided to turn to Neil “Mr. Automatic” Martin.

Martin, a senior, is one of the captains on this Gilroy squad and he not only felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, he was the first to put it there.

In fact on the first day of practice following the loss the Mustangs offensive coordinator, Tim Pierleoni, came up with an idea that would ultimately totally unite the Gilroy squad.

When Coach Yafai blew the whistle ending practice, Pierleoni yelled out to the whole team and ordered them to line up as one solid defensive line. They then lined Martin up for a 25-yard field goal.

“I told the kids to yell at him as loud as they could. You can't exactly simulate crowd noise but that's what we were aiming for,” Pierleoni admitted.

In last Friday night's game against Oakland Tech Martin missed a 45-yard field goal (not really of any fault of his own) but then drilled a 33-yard field goal and two extra points.

The team lost but with the way they've rallied together as a team that one point loss may actually catapult this team to bigger and better things.

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