Johnson, Wolves taste first victory

After Basic lost its first three games of the season, senior quarterback Antraye Johnson said his team was more than ready to taste victory at homecoming Friday against Valley.

As it turned out, Johnson was a big reason the Wolves were finally winners.

Johnson threw three touchdown passes and rushed for another score, as Basic built a 30-0 lead, and cruised to a 42-14 victory.

“Eventually, you just get to the point where you are tired of losing. So we just wanted this one really bad,” Johnson said. “Plus, I think since it’s homecoming we came out more fired up than we usually are.”

Johnson connected on 17 of 27 passes for 290 yards, including touchdown tosses of 19, 36 and 25 yards, to lead the way.

Johnson also led Basic’s ground attack, rushing for 142 yards on 13 carries.

Johnson said one change he made against Valley (1-3) stemmed from his coaches telling him not to try to do too much when plays broke down.

“They just told me instead of rolling around and trying to hit the perfect pass, I should just hit those holes that are open and run, so that’s what I did,” Johnson said.

That strategy paid off in the second quarter, as Johnson was looking to pass but then took off and galloped 35 yards to the end zone. That gave the Wolves an 18-0 lead with 6:28 left in the second quarter.

Basic coach Jeff Cahill said he was pleased with the way the overall offense, as well as the defensive unit played against the Vikings.

“You know, we have been relying on Antraye a lot this year, so we wanted to get some other people involved and we did a good job with that,” Cahill said. “Our receivers did a great job of getting open. And we played bend-but-don’t-break defense and came up with some big plays after Valley did a good job of moving the ball.”

David Garza led Basic’s receivers with four catches for 106 yards, including a 25-yard TD reception in the third quarter that gave the Wolves their biggest lead at 30-0.

Jon Scoffield had a 36-yard touchdown reception and also rushed 18 yards for a score for Basic.

The Wolves’ defense came up with four turnovers, including interceptions by Alex Evans, Brandon Moreno and Demetrius Trim. Basic outgained the Vikings 553-242, and the defense held Valley to just 113 yards in the first half.

Tyrone Prewitt threw for 170 yards and two touchdowns for Valley.

Johnson, who was crowned homecoming king, said the win should help Basic start to turn things around this season.

“I think this one ‘W’ is what we needed to really get us going on all cylinders,” Johnson said.