Bryce Jones, Leland Crawford lead Valley to victory

The Valley Vikings seniors finally had a chance to celebrate after facing an Eldorado football team.

Valley raided the homecoming festivities at Eldorado, beating the Sundevils for the first time in this senior class’s career, 29-22, on Thursday night.

“These guys work hard,” first-year Valley coach Quincy Burts said. “They’ve been fighting a long time.”

The Vikings (2-4 overall, 1-1 Northeast) got 197 yards rushing on 26 carries from junior running back Bryce Jones, and Leeland Crawford caught three touchdown passes in just his second game back from a broken collarbone to lead Valley’s attack.

The Vikings got in front early on Crawford’s first score, an 11-yard strike from quarterback Endy Diaz with 6:54 to play in the first quarter. But in a mostly defensive first half, Valley found itself with a 10-7 deficit as the first half was about to run out. But with 1:48 to go in the second quarter, the Vikings put together a six-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 19-yard scoring pass from Diaz to Crawford with just 34 seconds left in the half.

That gave Valley a 14-10 lead that it would never relinquish.

“Hopefully we can take some momentum from this and win out,” Jones said. “We’ve got more guys coming back next week. Better get ready for Valley.”

Clinging to that 14-10 lead as the second half got underway, Valley kicked the offense into gear. The Vikings scored on its first two possessions of the third quarter, sandwiched around a 16-yard scoring pass from Eldorado quarterback Jaime Rangel to Andres Aviles, to take a 29-16 lead with 3:13 left in ye third quarter.

Eldorado answeredon its next possession, as the Sundevils went 55 yards in 11 plays, capped by a Michael Perez 4-yard run with 11:22 to play. The extra point was no good, leaving Eldorado with a 29-22 deficit.

Valley looked to have put the game away with 5:15 to go. After three stalled drives from the teams, Valley punted the ball deep to the Eldorado 5-yard line.

Facing a second-and-6 from the 9, Rangel and Perez couldn’t get a handle on an attempted handoff. The ball bounced around, finally going backwards and being pushed out the back of the end zone.

Originally called a safety that would have given Valley a 31-22 lead, and made it a two-score game, the officials changed their minds and ruled it a touchback. The ball went out to the 20-yard line, and Eldorado retained possession.

The Sundevils couldn’t move the ball, though, and had to punt with 4:18 left. Behind Jones and Jeffery Maestas, who added 84 yards of on 14 carries, the Vikings were able to get three first downs, force Eldorado out of timeouts, and run out the clock.

“For these seniors,” Burts said.”They’ve never beaten them, in freshmen, JV or varsity.”