K.C. Moore’s big night lifts Spring Valley over Sunrise Mountain

Spring Valley football coach Marcus Teal calls quarterback K.C. Moore the “catalyst” of his Grizzlies squad.

When Moore plays well, Teal believes his team can hurt opponents in a number of ways.

In Friday’s home opener against Sunrise Mountain, Moore certainly did more than his share.

Moore threw for 147 yards and a touchdown and added 98 yards rushing with two rushing scores as the Grizzlies earned a 26-13 win over the Miners. Moore also executed a pair of successful onside kicks, including one to start the game.

Spring Valley’s game plan was simple: use a rushing attack to wear down Sunrise Mountain. It worked, as the Grizzlies rushed for 229 yards.

“Running the football in our no-huddle offense was the key,” said Teal, whose team held the ball for almost 16 minutes in the opening half. “We wanted to keep up the tempo, in hopes of wearing them down. When we run the football successfully, we can control the game.”

Though Spring Valley had 179 total yards in the first half, the Grizzlies only led 6-0 at the break.

However, Moore helped engineer three second-half touchdown drives. Gerardo Avalos caught a 24-yard TD, Moore ran for a 7-yard score and Kevin Benoza added a 39-yard TD run for the Grizzlies.

Sunrise Mountain did score two touchdowns in the final four minutes, on a pair of 12-yard touchdown passes by Stephen Wright, who completed 19 of 32 passes for 193 yards.

“(Sunrise Mountain) didn’t quit,” Teal said. “We did some mistakes late and they certainly took advantage. We’ve got to find better ways to close football games. But overall, I’m very pleased with the total team effort.”

Kelly Gray finished with 65 yards rushing, and Benoza added 61 more for Spring Valley (1-1). The Grizzlies also held the Miners to 69 yards on the ground.

Tyree Hayes caught eight of Wright’s passes for 75 yards for Sunrise Mountain (1-2).