By Don Eskins
One of Carlsbad High School’s most prolific football tandems combined to write their names in the Cavemen record book in 2024. Together, senior quarterback Kason Perez, Class 6A’s top signal-caller for total yards gained, and junior wide receiver Bobby Castaneda, the fourth leading receiver in Class 6A football, established six new gridiron milestones for their play on the offensive side of the ball.
Four of those records belong to Perez. Under center, the senior signal-caller set new marks for: 1. Most Passing Yards in a game, 373 (Previous record 358 by Jacob Galindo 2009); 2. Most Total Yards in a game, 408 (Previous record 381 by Jacob Galindo); 3. Most Passing Touchdowns in a game, six (Previous record five by Rodney Holcomb); and 4. Most Passing Touchdowns in a season, 27 (Previous record 22 by Rodney Holcomb).
Wide-out Bobby Castaneda set two new records. Those records were for: 1. Most Receiving Yards in a game, 220 (Previous record, disputed, 209 by Robbie Arrington) and 2. Most Receiving Touchdowns in a season, 12 (Previous record 11 by Shane Andrews).
Perez and Castaneda helped to guide CHS to a 4-6 record on the year and 2-4 in District 4/5A play.
“Two years ago, Bobby played basketball and missed a good part of our off-season program,” said Sanders. “This season, he was with us throughout our off-season and summer program. Having Bobby and Kason working together for the duration really paid off big for us.”
Perez concurred with Sanders’ observation.
“Our off-season helped us a lot. Being able to run so many routes and throw so many passes, Bobby and I were on the same page most all season,” said Perez. “Because of all the work we put in, we trusted each other. Bobby trusted me to get him the ball, and I trusted him to make a play.”
Sanders said it was important to remember that contributions made by other players played a key role in Perez and Castaneda’s success.
“Kason did a good job of distributing the ball. We had six other receivers make a significant number of catches, so teams just couldn’t double-up on Bobby,” said the Caveman coach. “Eloy Lopez had 35 catches for 400 yards, Eaven Leos 22 receptions for 321, Richard Hernandez 29 for 306, Brock Wright 14 for 203, Ian Sandoval 10 for 129, and Ty Young 9 for 86.”
As a group, these six receivers accounted for 15 of Perez’s 27 touchdown passes.
While Carlsbad will be losing the services of Perez, due to graduation, Castaneda will return and is expected to be a very big piece of Sanders’ plans to get CHS back to the state playoffs in 2025.
(Perez and Castaneda photos by Ara Sanders. Graphics by coach Charles Millar)
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