Friday, September 26, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

FLEET FALCONS: Foothill pounds Green Valley

Freshman Jones runs for 136 yards, TD in 54-12 win

By JEFF WOLLARD
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Foothill's D'Angelo Jones breaks a tackle while running for a first down in the second quarter Thursday. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

Foothill freshman D'Angelo Jones never expected to start a varsity game this season, but he knew he would do something special if the chance ever came.

Jones got that opportunity Thursday and he made the best of it, rushing 18 times for 136 yards and a touchdown to lift the second-ranked Falcons to a 54-12 home victory over Green Valley.

"I want to thank my coach for giving me a chance to start," said Jones, who gave Foothill a 6-0 lead with a 5-yard run two minutes into the game. "I was ready for this game, and I'm proud."

Jones wasn't the only Falcons running back to leave the field with a good feeling. Teammate Antonio Hartwell rushed nine times for 90 yards and three touchdowns.

"We came in hard and strong," said the 270-pound Hartwell, who made little of his team's cross-town rivalry with the Gators. "We come in looking to beat everybody and I did what I had to do."

Receiver Cory Dow also got into the mix, catching two touchdown passes in the first half to help give Foothill a 25-6 halftime lead.

Green Valley (1-4), which has lost four in a row, answered with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Lance Patonai to Daniel Britt late in the second quarter and a 19-yard TD pass to Drew Dison in the third.

But the Falcons (5-0) put the game away by scoring 28 points in a seven-minute span starting late in the third quarter to extend the lead to 54-12 with 7:58 to play. Elonzo Baker capped the scoring with a 10-yard fumble return.

Patonai completed 8 of 20 passes for 82 yards with an interception for the Gators, who were held to 155 yards and gave up 404.

• Cheyenne 26, Centennial 20 -- At Centennial, the 10th-ranked Desert Shields returned two fumbles for touchdowns in a 35-second span of the second quarter en route to a victory over the fifth-ranked Bulldogs.

The two return TDs keyed Cheyenne's 26-point second quarter.

Trivion McKenzie sacked Centennial quarterback Adrian Prado and forced a fumble that Bryan Kennard picked up and ran back 41 yards for a score to tie the game at 6-6 with 8:37 remaining in the first half. Two plays later, the roles were reversed as Kennard sacked Prado and forced a fumble that McKenzie picked up and ran 47 yards for a score, giving Cheyenne (3-2, 1-0 Northwest) the lead.

On their next possession, Centennial (3-2, 0-1) fumbled again, and David Peeples capitalized with a 42-yard TD run. Peeples finished with 167 yards on 23 carries.

Cheyenne added a touchdown as time expired in the first half on a 20-yard pass from Quinton Carter to Kennard to make it 26-6.

Centennial scored twice in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 26-20, but the comeback fell short when Brandon Alderman fumbled at the Cheyenne 15-yard line with 2:05 remaining.

The Bulldogs forced a punt but fumbled again in their own territory with 50 seconds remaining. Centennial turned the ball over six times in the game, including five fumbles.

Centennial's Wykean Johnson ran for 133 yards, all in the second half, and Prado completed 11 of 17 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown.

-- Adam Hill

• Coronado 28, Silverado 25 -- At Coronado, Ali Amin took a pitch on a kickoff and raced 70 yards for a touchdown with 19 seconds remaining, lifting the No. 7 Cougars over the Skyhawks.

Quincy Poole fielded the kickoff at the Coronado 20, ran right and then tossed the ball to Amin near the right sideline at the 30. Amin ran untouched for the winning score.

Amin and Poole's heroics ended Silverado's upset bid. On the previous play, Spencer Armstrong had hauled in a 24-yard touchdown pass from Nicholas McCombs to give the Skyhawks a 25-22 lead with 35 seconds to play.

Armstrong powered Silverado (1-4, 0-1 Southeast), hauling in five receptions for 137 yards and rushing for 77 yards on six carries. His 60-yard scoring run with 26 seconds left in the third quarter trimmed Coronado's lead to 22-18.

Poole led the Cougars (3-1, 1-0), rushing for 105 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries.

Coronado overcame the loss of starting quarterback Andrew Hatch, who went down after a sack early in the third quarter. He had a 1-yard touchdown run and a 13-yard scoring pass to Amin to give the Cougars to a 14-12 halftime lead.

Alan Gunter kicked field goals of 32 and 35 yards in the first half to keep Silverado close.

-- Tim Guesman

• Las Vegas 55, Eldorado 35 -- At Eldorado, tailback Eric Jordan ran for 262 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries, all in the first half, as the top-ranked Wildcats overwhelmed the Sundevils in both teams' Northeast Division opener.

Quarterback Chris Gifford was 11-for-13 passing for 207 yards and three TDs as Las Vegas (5-0) piled up 556 yards of offense.

Jordan, the area's leader in rushing yards and scoring, had TD runs of 56, 38, 5 and 15 yards. Gifford threw touchdown passes of 18 and 15 yards to Stanley Copeland and hit Steve Holmes for a 27-yard TD.

Copeland also had a 75-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Las Vegas led 21-0 before Eldorado scored on a 93-yard kickoff return by Andy Bacchetta.

The Sundevils (1-4) pulled within 28-14 on a 2-yard TD run by quarterback Brandon Godfrey with 4:42 to go in the first half. But the Wildcats pushed the lead to 42-14 at the break and 55-14 midway through the third quarter before Eldorado scored the last three touchdowns.

Eldorado's Marcus Newson scored on a 1-yard run late in the third quarter, and Godfrey (13-for-28 passing for 173 yards) hit John Martinezjunco from 6 yards out in the fourth.

The Sundevils' final TD came with a minute left when Steve Sharp blocked a punt and Cody Cunningham returned it 5 yards.

-- Sam Waller

• Western 19, Sierra Vista 14 -- At Sierra Vista, quarterback Julian Sample hit Demario Harris for a 16-yard touchdown pass with 23 seconds left as the Warriors rallied to defeat the Lions.

Following a missed field goal, Sierra Vista (1-3, 0-1 Southwest) took over the ball on their own 20-yard line with 2:21 remaining. Three plays later, Western defensive lineman Ronald Paulo recovered a fumbled snap on the 24 to set up the winning score.

Sample led the Warriors (2-3, 1-0) with 115 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown.

Steven Hill led the Lions with 31 carries for 140 yards.

Sierra Vista's Brandon Harris caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Whittaker midway through the first quarter to give the Lions a 14-0 lead.

The Warriors responded with Sample's 2-yard touchdown run and a 19-yard scoring run by Stephon Sanford to make the score 14-13 at halftime.

-- Arnold Knightly

• Desert Pines 72, Chaparral 22 -- At Chaparral, Steve Golden rushed for 197 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, leading the Jaguars to a rout of the Cowboys.

Desert Pines (1-0, 3-2 Northeast) scored touchdowns on three of its first five plays from scrimmage and totaled 628 yards of offense, 422 on the ground.

Golden had touchdown runs of 57 and 40 yards in the first quarter, and Jonathan Stoldorf caught six passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns.

Desert Pines' Donte Minton ran for 137 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries in the second half. Jaguars quarterback Josh Webster completed 8 of 12 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns.

Mike Washington led Desert Pines' defense with three interceptions, and teammate Jarron McCraney had seven tackles and a sack.

Kamar Bryant led Chaparral (0-1, 2-3) with five receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown, and teammate Blake Mason ran for 115 yards on 10 carries.

Andrey Frazier caught a 25-yard touchdown pass and had a 2-yard touchdown run for the Cowboys.

-- Jim Godfrey

• Valley 10, Rancho 6 -- At Valley, Matt Christman threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to David Sosa late in the third quarter and the Vikings held on to upset the eighth-ranked Rams (3-2, 0-1 Northeast).

Valley (2-3, 1-0) controlled the ball for the final 7:05. Neither defense allowed more than 200 yards of offense.

Jermaine Stevens scored Rancho's touchdown on a 3-yard run in the second quarter.

-- Steve Jones

• Bonanza 62, Clark 38-- At Bonanza, Nigel Moore rushed for 135 yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries as the Bengals rolled past the Chargers.

Moore scored on runs of 21, 25, 12, and 5 yards.

Bonanza rushing attack piled up 315 yards, as the offense had a total of 499 yards.

Brett Parry completed 5 of 8 passes for 184 yards, including a 79-yard TD pass to Glen Gavin in the fourth quarter.

The Bengals (2-3, 1-0 Southwest) held Clark (0-5, 0-1) to just 86 yards rushing and sacked Josh Tuitele six times.

Tuitele finished with 383 passing yards, completing 22 of 34 passes for three touchdowns. He also ran for two touchdowns, finishing with 18 yards on 19 carries.

-- Christian Wloszczyna

• Basic 37, Mojave 16 -- At Basic, running back Sione Norsingle ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns to lead No. 4 Basic (5-0) past Mojave (1-4).

Chris Montano was 7 of 14 passing for 111 yards. He threw first-half touchdown passes of 5 and 28 yards to brother A.J. Montano.

Basic's Deshawn Henderson and Kweke Garth had interceptions, and A.J. Montano recovered a fumbled punt at the Mojave 12.

After the 5-yard TD toss between the Montano brothers, Norsingle broke a 37-yard touchdown run early in the second for a 13-0 lead.

With 2:36 left in the half, Chris Montano found A.J. on their 28-yard TD down the right sideline to make it 21-0.

Daniel Brisendine scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter, followed by a 26-yard field goal by Aaron Bowman for a 31-0 Wolves lead. Norsingle added a 3-yard TD in the fourth quarter for a 37-0 edge.

Mojave's Robert Hill (183 yards, 23 carries) scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns on runs of 5 and 14 yards.

-- John Cranton

• Pahrump Valley 39, Shadow Ridge 34 -- At Pahrump, Kekoa Malenderes scored on a 3-yard run with 1:20 to play, lifting the Trojans (3-1) over the Mustangs (1-4).

Malenderes' TD, which came on fourth-and-goal, was his third scoring run of the game. He also had touchdown runs of 21 and 40 yards.

Shadow Ridge had taken a 34-26 lead on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Chris Berkeley to Beau Backman early in the fourth quarter. Malenderes' 40-yard run pulled Pahrump within two points.

Backman caught two touchdown passes, and Ricky Snodgrass ran for two scores.

• Virgin Valley 50, Liberty 0 -- At Liberty, Drayton Woods ran for 70 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs (4-0) past the Patriots (0-4).

Alec Johnson caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Dustin Wittwer and also had a 5-yard touchdown run. Virgin Valley's Kyle Johnson returned a fumble 30 yards for a touchdown.

-- James Aronoff