No. 9 Green Valley turns to ground game in win over Palo Verde — PHOTOS
Green Valley’s Sonny Uranich hadn’t played a whole lot of running back before Friday night.
No one watching would have guessed.
Uranich ran for 162 yards and a touchdown, and the Gators held on for a 21-18 home victory over Palo Verde.
“You know what? He’s just a football player,” Green Valley coach Bill Powell said of Uranich. “He started at free safety for us last year as a sophomore. He’s just a football player and he likes to get touches and he’s got a lot of innate abilities.”
The Gators didn’t do much offensively in the first half, and held a 7-3 lead despite intercepting three Palo Verde passes. But No. 9 Green Valley (1-1) turned to the ground game in the second half, running for 180 yards to put the game away. That total includes three kneel downs to end the game.
“We really just switched up the run plays,” said Uranich, who ran for 140 yards on 10 second-half carries. “We did really well in counter in practice, so coach called it and we executed it. Shout out to the (offensive) line.”
That line opened up some huge holes for Uranich, who was patient and able to pick his way for some big gains, including a 20-yard TD run that made it 21-10 with 3:50 to go in the game. He also had runs of 55 and 36 yards in the second half.
“He’s got great vision, and he’s kind of hard to see,” Powell said of his junior back, who had primarily played receiver on offense until Friday. “He’s not a big guy, and he keeps his pads down pretty well, so we can kind of sneak in there, and he’s quick enough where you can get through.”
Uranich’s TD run seemed like it would seal the win, especially after Aiden Tiqui picked off a Stockton Baird pass with 1:48 to play. It was the fourth time the Gators picked off the freshman quarterback.
But Palo Verde (0-2) managed to force a punt, and Tommy Cannon was able to partially block the kick, allowing the Panthers to get great field position.
Baird hit X’Zavier McZeal with a 31-yard TD strike on the first play of the ensuing drive, and Darrek Walker’s 2-point conversion run cut the lead to 21-18 with 1:38 to play.
But the Panthers were unable to recover the onside kick, and the Gators ran out the clock.
“We probably should have been up more at halftime,” Powell said. “They gave us multiple opportunities and we really didn’t cash in on it. I think we were probably trying to do too much, trying to get too cute. We started to wear them down a little bit.”
Michael Lewis had a 56-yard TD pass to Kalil Usher in the first quarter, and added a 19-yard scoring strike to Eliseo Gerardo in the third quarter for the Gators. He completed 7 of 15 passes for 99 yards.
Baird completed 14 of 26 passes for 165 yards and the touchdown, and Walker had a 3-yard TD run for Palo Verde.
“We’re going to win some games this year,” Uranich said. “We’re going to be a scary team, and this is just one step, so we’re going to keep stepping.”
