Ball control on offense, punishing defense propel Arbor View past Coronado

Arbor View football coach Dan Barnson preached ball control before sending his players onto the field Friday.

He never imagined the performance his team would deliver.

Dominant on both sides of the ball, the No. 2 Aggies took control from the opening snap and cruised to a 42-0 victory over No. 8 Coronado.

Herman Gray rushed 13 times for 110 yards and three touchdowns to lead Arbor View, and teammate Jacob Speaks carried 10 times for 95 yards and a score.

Barnson said his team’s ability to assemble long drives made the difference.

“It was all about ball control,” said Barnson, whose squad outgained the Cougars, 393 yards to 201. “We just kept the ball away from them. When you take the ball out of the other team’s hands, it’s hard for them to score.”

The Aggies (2-0) wasted no time in asserting themselves, capping a 5-minute, 80-yard opening drive with an 8-yard scoring run by Gray to go ahead 7-0 with 6:49 remaining in the first quarter.

Coronado (1-3), which posted only 52 yards in the first half, was unable to answer, allowing Arbor View to take over in the second.

Gray had two more touchdown runs in the quarter, Jacob Speaks caught a 52-yard TD pass from Andrew Cornwall, and Devon Turner scored on a 3-yard plunge up the middle as the Aggies scored on each of their first-half possessions.

The Cougars mounted a drive late in the first half, but Jackson Cofer was intercepted at the Arbor View 11-yard line with 10.4 seconds remaining. Coronado finished the night with five turnovers.

“We executed on both sides of the ball tonight,” said Barnson, whose team led 35-0 at halftime. “The kids were prepared, and they did everything we asked them to do.”

The Aggies worked the clock in the second half, with their only touchdown coming on a 16-yards sprint by Speaks.

Coronado managed to get the ball into Arbor View territory two more times, but the first drive ended with another interception and the second was squelched when the Cougars turned the ball over on downs late in the fourth.

“We never let them get going,” Barnson said.

Cornwall completed four of 11 passes for 78 yards and a TD for Arbor View.

Cofer connected on six of his 18 passes for 73 yards to lead the Cougars, but three interceptions were costly. Teammate Tanner Gorski caught four passes for 57 yards.

■ Canyon Springs 30, Basic 14 — At Basic, quarterback Bradley Alexander threw two second-half touchdown passes, and Zaviontay Stevenson ran a kickoff 83 yards for another score as the No. 6 Pioneers spoiled the Wolves’ home opener.

The Pioneers opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game as Eli Gonzalez nailed a 42-yard field goal. Canyon Springs (3-0) pushed the lead to 10 late in the first period on Alexander’s 25-yard run.

For the third straight game, the Pioneer defense didn’t allow a point in the opening half, as Basic mustered only 59 yards of offense.

Just 15 seconds into the third quarter, Stevenson broke open the game with his long kickoff return, and Canyon Springs led 17-0.

Alexander, who finished with 198 yards passing, threw TD tosses of 38 yards to Marck Cassino and 6 yards to Kyhren Howard.

Basic (0-3) got on the board thanks to Elijah Sharif, who scored both touchdowns on runs of 15 and 4 yards.

It was a tough night for Basic quarterback Antraye Johnson, who completed just 15 of 35 passes for 137 yards and was sacked three times. Johnson did run for 55 yards on 16 carries.

Stevenson added 72 yards on 14 carries for Canyon Springs, which totaled 294 yards.

■ Silverado 26, Durango 0 — At Silverado, Jarrett Alipio rushed for two scores to power the Skyhawks to their first victory of the season.

Alipio, a 5-foot-6 junior, had 22 carries for 157 yards, including touchdown runs of 3 and 15 yards. Alipio missed out on converting a third score for Silverado (1-2) when his 53-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter was called back because of a penalty.

The Skyhawk defense limited the Trailblazers (0-2) to 70 yards of offense. Senior defensive lineman Billy Danford anchored Silverado’s defense with a fumble recovery and two sacks.

Danford’s fumble recovery with 10:14 left in the third quarter set up the Skyhawks on the Trailblazer 25. Three plays later, Alipio dashed right, broke a tackle and stumbled across the goal line for a 15-yard TD run to give the Skyhawks a 14-0 lead.

Alipio and Mitchell Kissam each had a sack for Silverado.

■ Centennial 40, Shadow Ridge 7 — At Centennial, the Bulldogs shook off a sluggish first half and exploded for 34 second-half points to pull away from Shadow Ridge and earn their first win of the season.

Lantz Worthington rushed for 164 yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs (1-2). After rushing for just 32 yards in the first half, the 5-foot-9 senior used a 57-yard touchdown run with 9:38 left in the third quarter to ignite a 132-yard second-half performance.

Quarterback Coll Thomson replaced starter Kendal-Kyle Carden in the second half, and completed his only two pass attempts, both to Jordan Kirchner, for touchdown strikes of 56 and 41 yards, both in the third quarter.

■ Virgin Valley 48, Clark 21 — At Clark, Virgin Valley quarterback Garrett Leavitt threw for 387 yards and four touchdowns and ran for two touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs (4-0) got started early. Cody Faught returned the opening kickoff 54 yards to the Clark 37. Two plays later, Leavitt connected with Dee Bowler on a 40-yard touchdown pass to put the Bulldogs up 7-0.

In the second quarter, Leavitt connected twice with his favorite target, DeVonte Milligan, on touchdown passes of 57 and 81 yards to put the Bulldogs ahead 20-0. Milligan caught seven passes for 254 yards.

Clark’s Isaiah Lyles May returned the ensuing kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown to bring the Chargers to within 20-7. Virgin Valley, however, answered with two touchdown drives in the final 6:52 of the half to blow open the game. Virgin Valley’s Harold Caswell scored on a 3-yard run, and Leavitt connected again with Bowler on a 10-yard strike.

For Clark (2-2), Milan Dixon rushed for 132 yards on 23 carries, including 50- and 1-yard touchdown runs.

■ Desert Oasis 46, Valley 12 — At Desert Oasis, the Diamondbacks ran roughshod over the Vikings on the strength of Jacquez Kalili’s six rushing touchdowns to improve to 2-0.

Kalili scored at least once in every quarter and totaled 266 yards on 15 carries. Reinforced by fullback Blake Kutz’s 129 yards rushing and a stingy pass defense, Desert Oasis overwhelmed Valley.

Kalili broke open the game in the first quarter with TD runs of 23 and 53 yards. He added scoring runs of 1, 46, 72 and 27 yards later in the game. He ran back a 64-yard kickoff late in the game as well, but it was negated by a holding penalty.

Adding to the win was a 40-yard interception return by the Diamondbacks’ Jake Peterson midway through the third.

Tyrone Prewitt connected with Malik Batiste on a 6-yard score in the second for Valley, which fell to 1-2. Amari Tatum added a 27-yard touchdown run late in the game for the Vikings.

■ Sierra Vista 53, Rancho 7 — At Sierra Vista, Maliek Broady ran for 106 yards, including a 90-yard touchdown, and returned a fumble 43 yards for another score as the Mountain Lions beat the Rams.

Sierra Vista (1-1) quarterback Randal Grimes ran for 40 yards and two touchdowns and threw a touchdown pass of 35 yards to D.J. Laushaul. Octavious Payne rushed 18 yards for a touchdown and returned a punt 80 yards for a score as Sierra Vista led Rancho (0-4) 46-0 at halftime.

The Mountain Lion defense held Rancho to just 54 total yards of offense, including minus-6 yards during the first half.

■ Cimarron-Memorial 19, Cheyenne 12 — At Cheyenne, Cimarron-Memorial’s Michael Barnson ran for 220 yards on 20 carries, and the Spartans defense intercepted a pass late to hold on against the winless Desert Shields.

Held to only 67 yards in the first half, Barnson exploded for 153 yards in the second, including a 71-yard run which set up the touchdown that gave the Spartans a 13-12 lead in the third.

The Spartans defense held Cheyenne to only 59 yards in the second half while not allowing Cheyenne to convert any of three lost Cimarron fumbles. Tenth-ranked Cimarron (2-0) also pulled in three interceptions, two by Dallas Cervantes and one by Savigon McIver.

■ Spring Valley 28, Del Sol 10 — At Spring Valley, quarterback Christian Tasi rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another as the Grizzlies slid past the Dragons.

Tasi threw an 86-yard TD pass to Micah Benoza, who got behind the coverage and raced down the right sideline to make it 21-10 with 3:32 left in the third quarter. Tasi added a 10-yard TD run with 2:36 left in the game after the Grizzlies took over on downs at the Dragons’ 20-yard line.

Del Sol opened the scoring with a 35-yard field goal from Leo Delatorre after recovering a fumble by Spring Valley on the game’s first play from scrimmage.

■ Chaparral 59, Western 0 — At Chaparral, Justin Nelson scored four straight touchdowns and finished with 117 yards rushing on just nine carries to lead the Cowboys (2-2) over the Warriors (0-4).

Nelson scored on a 61-yard run, caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Jerome Williamson and took a punt return 49 yards for a score just before the end of the first half. Nelson had a 15-yard TD run on the first drive of the second half and added two 2-point conversions.

Travis Seiu rushed for three touchdowns, and the Cowboy defense held the Warriors to 94 total yards of offense.

■ Faith Lutheran 31, Boulder City 19 — At Faith Lutheran, the host Crusaders survived a frenetic final five minutes, sealing the game with a 52-yard kickoff return by freshman Christian Marshall off of a Boulder City onside kick.

The first half ended just as wildly and ended up with Faith gaining a lead it would keep. With 1:19 to play in the second quarter, the Crusaders forced a fumble recovered by Max McPherson at the Boulder City 35. With 28 seconds remaining, Faith quarterback Jake Deaville ran in from 18 yards out. A Trent Dolby PAT gave Faith a 7-6 lead.

Faith (3-2) extended its lead to 24-12 on a 16-yard TD run by Keenan Smith and a 24-yard field goal by Dolby, but Boulder City (2-2) responded with a 79-yard TD run by Xavier Steel. The Eagles then attempted an onside kick, which Marshall nabbed at the 50 and scampered around the swarming Eagles defense for the game-clinching TD.

Faith was led by 100 yards passing from Deaville, 107 yards rushing from Smith and 92 yards rushing from Lagudi.

Boulder City got 81 yards rushing each from Roe and Steel, who stung the Crusaders for 267 yards and four touchdowns a year ago.

■ The Meadows 30, Lincoln County 12 — At The Meadows, running back Bryson Navallo rushed for 189 yards on 15 carries and two scores as the Mustangs rolled over the Lynx, 30-12.

Navallo’s scores came on runs of 1 and 25 yards. Mustang running back Nathan Devera added touchdown runs of 1 and 27 yards.

The Lynx were led by Will Culverwell, who rushed for 78 yards on 13 carries including an 8-yard touchdown run during the fourth quarter.

■ Spring Mountain 64, Joshua Springs (Calif.) 56 — At Spring Mountain, Valmir Bojku notched eight receptions for 224 yards and four touchdowns, two of which were 63 yards each, as the Golden Eagles outlasted the Lightning.

Bojku also scored on a 70-yard kickoff return and caught four 2-point conversion passes.

Dashon Blanche rushed for 44 yards and what would prove to be the winning touchdown with 2:14 left. The touchdown was followed by a 2-point throw from Joshua Banasiak to Bojku.

Banasiak went 10 of 18 for 256 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 35 tough yards and a touchdown for Spring Mountain (1-0), which struggled with turnovers early. Banasiak also threw five 2-point conversions and ran for another.

Arias Jefferson accounted for 100 rushing yards and a touchdown on just six carries for Spring Mountain.

■ Rancho Verde (Calif.) 66, Las Vegas 14 — At Moreno Valley, Calif., the Mustangs (2-2) jumped out to a 42-14 halftime lead and routed the fourth-ranked Wildcats.

Andrew Moreland and Aaron Zanin-Banks scored second-quarter touchdowns for Las Vegas (2-1).

■ Moapa Valley 41, Pahrump Valley 0 — At Overton, Zach Hymas threw four touchdowns, three to Jeremy Waite, and the Pirates (4-0) blanked the Trojans (1-3).

Hymas finished 13-for-17 passing for 233 yards. He tossed a 25-yard touchdown to Lance Hilton late in the first quarter to give Moapa Valley a 28-0 lead.

Waite finished with four catches for 103 yards. Jared Repp added 107 yards rushing and two touchdowns, including a 45-yard run to open the scoring for Moapa Valley.

■ Laughlin 50, White Pine 14 — At Laughlin, Justin Quibell threw two touchdown passes and rushed for another score as the Cougars (1-3, 1-2 Division III Southern) rallied from a 14-12 halftime deficit to top the Bobcats (0-4, 0-2).

Christian Avery caught one of Quibell’s TD throws and ran for two more scores for Laughlin.

■ Tonopah 26, Sandy Valley 22 — At Tonopah, Matt Misnier scored on a 14-yard run with six seconds to play to lift the Muckers (2-2, 1-0 Division IV Southern) over the Sidewinders (2-1, 0-1).

Misnier had 152 yards and two TDs on 13 carries to help Tonopah rack up 324 yards of offense.