Freshman quarterback leads Sierra Vista by Clark

When Sierra Vista senior quarterback Jordan Solomon went down with a knee injury earlier this season, the prospects of returning to the playoffs seemed bleak for the Mountain Lions.

However, freshman quarterback Jayden Maiava stepped up, and the Mountain Lions haven’t missed a beat.

Maiava threw for 229 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score as the Mountain Lions’ football team downed visiting Clark on Friday, 35-18.

“He’s got a lot of potential. We’re really lucky to have him,” Sierra Vista head coach John Foss said of his 6-foot-4 signal-caller.

Maiava credited Solomon with preparing him for what he’ll see on the field, which certainly helps the freshman keep his composure and remain comfortable in the pocket.

“(Solomon) has been coaching me up, fixing my mechanics and showing me what I’m supposed to be doing on the field,” Maiava said. “We had a lot of mistakes out there tonight, but we just want to come back to practice on Monday and fix the mistakes we had.”

The Mountain Lions (3-3, 2-0 Southwest League) got off to a fast start after forcing a fumble on Clark’s first offensive play. On fourth down from the Clark 27-yard line, Maiava connected with Tavaris Andrews on a touchdown pass to give the Mountain Lions an early lead.

Clark (0-5, 0-2) fought back, cutting Sierra Vista’s lead to 7-6 when Isaiah Veal caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Jared Jenkins. The Chargers’ drive was aided by three encroachment penalties on the Mountain Lions.

“We had some mental letdowns there, some offside, and we missed some easy plays,” Foss said. We have to clean that up as well.”

Sierra Vista answered Clark’s score when Maiava connected on a 40-yard bomb to Aaron Kahakeauki to push the lead to 14-6. Two possessions later, Maiava hit Tristen Jiminez on an 8-yard scoring strike to give the Mountain Lions a 21-6 halftime lead. On that final drive of the first half, Maiava led his team 45 yards in 1 minute, 3 seconds for the score.

In the second half, the Mountain Lions pushed their lead to 35-6 on a 5-yard run by Bryan LaGrange and a 1-yard run from Maiava.

Still, penalties and missed assignments allowed the Chargers to score twice more in the fourth quarter.

“We just keep trying to get better every week,” Foss said. “We’re going to face some pretty good opponents here very soon. We just have to get better. That’s our thing get the game called the right way.”