Bulldogs, Mustangs on rebound ahead of matchup

Virgin Valley’s football team expects to be vastly improved from last season and in the hunt for a Class 3A state title.

The Meadows is gunning for its third consecutive 2A championship.

But when the two programs meet at The Meadows on Saturday at 6 p.m., both will be looking to bounce back from disappointing outcomes last week.

Cedar (Utah) jumped to a 38-6 lead in a 45-20 win at Virgin Valley, while host Mojave (Calif.) crushed The Meadows 57-6.

“We have a lot of guys that haven’t played much varsity football,” said The Meadows coach Frank DeSantis, whose team has only four seniors. “It was definitely an eye-opener (last week).”

DeSantis said his team looked “lackadaisical” against Mojave, and he hopes the Mustangs (0-1) can get out to a faster start against Virgin Valley (1-1).

The Meadows faced Mojave without senior Austin Brown, a standout receiver and defensive back who DeSantis said was sidelined with a minor injury. Brown is set to play Saturday and expects to give the Mustangs a lift on both sides of the ball.

The Meadows is still trying to fit the pieces of its offensive line together after graduating all but one starter from last season.

DeSantis wants to use the game to help his young players continue to acclimate to live action, perhaps with a simplified playbook.

“I just think you have to start slow and be basic with a lot of the things you do,” he said. “You try to let them free up and play.”

Virgin Valley coach Kirk Hafen was pleased with his team’s effort against Cedar. But like DeSantis, he wants to see more attention to detail.

“We’re going to work on our mental mistakes and those kind of things to correct,” Hafen said.

One positive the Bulldogs took from last week was the play of junior quarterback Humberto Urias, who completed 19 of 33 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.

“He’s improved immensely from last year,” Hafen said. “Throwing the ball, he’s not guiding it now; he’s actually throwing it.”

Virgin Valley’s Cameron Jensen caught five passes for 115 yards and a TD, and Daniel Gleave pulled down five balls for 89 yards and two scores.

Hafen said Urias’ continued improvement and a deep core of receivers gives the Bulldogs plenty of weapons in a multiple-set offense.

“It’s nice to know that we can actually throw the ball this year,” Hafen said. “It depends on how teams are playing us. We can line up in that double wing or spread, which is different than what we could do last year.”

Urias is still the running threat he was last season, too. He leads the Bulldogs with 104 rushing yards through two games.