Portaro, Crusaders air it out

Faith Lutheran managed only 12 rushing yards on 18 carries Saturday night.

Not that it mattered.

Joe Portaro directed a potent aerial attack, passing for 364 yards and three touchdowns, as the Crusaders defeated visiting Legacy 37-23 in the Northwest League opener for both teams.

"It feels great," Portaro said. "Last year we lost pretty bad in this game, but this year we just buckled down. We knew what we had to do to win."

Last year, Legacy beat Faith Lutheran 39-6 on its way to the Northwest title.

But Portaro, who also had two 1-yard TD runs, completed 32 of 57 pass attempts to carry the Crusaders to only their second Northwest victory. Faith Lutheran was 1-7 in its Northwest debut season last year.

"Now we believe in ourselves," Portaro said. "(Legacy) is supposed to be one of the best teams, and now we're saying to ourselves that we could potentially be in the playoffs. And we're hoping to get there."

Portaro threw a screen pass to Justin Dannan, who took it 16 yards for a touchdown with 9:11 to go in the third quarter to break a 16-16 tie and put Faith Lutheran ahead for good.

On the ensuing drive, Legacy's Jordan Ireland broke off what appeared to be an 80-yard TD run, but the Longhorns were called for a block in the back 25 yards downfield.

Legacy fumbled on the next play and Faith Lutheran's A.J. Kaplan recovered. Four plays later Portaro hit Devin Dolby for a 5-yard touchdown, and Portaro's extra point made it 30-16.

"That's a huge turnaround," Faith Lutheran coach Jake Kothe said of Legacy's nullified touchdown. "And then we come down and score. Certainly that was a big play and a big turnaround in the game."

After Ireland returned a punt 79 yards for a TD to cut the lead to 30-23, the Longhorns were again hurt by an official's whistle.

Legacy's Quincey Lindsey picked off a Portaro pass and raced 51 yards for an apparent touchdown with 1:06 to go in the third quarter, but the play was ruled dead because of an inadvertent whistle.

Portaro, who had a 14-yard TD pass to Dolby in the second quarter, had plenty of time to find open receivers most of the game. Legacy sacked him only once.

Legacy's D'Andre Hughes had an 80-yard TD run with 6.9 seconds to go in the first half. Aside from that run, Faith Lutheran limited the Longhorns to 172 rushing yards on 42 carries.

Faith Lutheran's Brett Lubbe caught nine passes for 72 yards and Don Pearson caught seven for 108 yards. Portaro made completions to seven receivers.

Hughes had 115 yards on seven carries to lead Legacy. Ireland supplied 104 on 31 attempts.

■ Bishop Gorman 48, Clark 0 -- At Clark, Jarrett Solomon passed for two touchdowns and ran for one as the top-ranked Gaels (2-1) rolled over the Chargers in the teams' Southwest League opener.

Evan Zeger returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a score. After Clark (0-2) punted, Zeger took a pass from Solomon 87 yards for another touchdown.

Shaquille Powell led Gorman with 98 yards rushing, including a 65-yard TD.

-- Tim Guesman

■ Palo Verde 56, Mojave 12 -- At Palo Verde, Brandon Wright rushed for 167 yards and three touchdowns on nine carries to lead the second-ranked Panthers (3-0, 1-0 Northwest) to a rout of the Rattlers (0-1, 0-1 Northwest).

Wright gave Palo Verde a 21-0 lead with touchdown runs of 41, 2 and 32 yards. The Panthers padded their lead to 56-0 with two fumble returns, a safety and three rushing touchdowns.

-- Brennan Karle

■ Liberty 42, Spring Valley 10 -- At Liberty, the fifth-ranked Patriots (1-1) had four scoring plays of more than 50 yards in their victory over the Grizzlies (1-1).

Six players scored for Liberty, and the Patriots held Spring Valley to 120 yards.

-- Sam Leeper

■ Foothill 31, Desert Pines 12 -- At Desert Pines, Parker Riggin passed for 228 yards to lead the sixth-ranked Falcons (3-0) over the Jaguars (0-2). Riggin threw a 27-yard scoring pass to Connor Afoa.

Leon Hayes rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown for Desert Pines.

-- Brian Danise

■ Silverado 61, Eldorado 14 -- At Silverado, the No. 7-ranked Skyhawks (2-0) compiled 512 yards and scored on six of their first seven possessions to storm past the Sundevils (1-1).

Izaiah Thurmon rushed for 147 yards, scoring on runs of 34, 15 and 7. Steven Scamorza supplied 132 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown.

Savon Moniz was 8 of 14 passing for 131 yards and a touchdown for Silverado, and Garren Albright threw for 68 yards and a TD.

The Skyhawks got two second-half touchdowns on special teams, with Scamorza returning a kickoff 86 yards and Dominic Molina returning a punt 52 yards. Alec Acevedo supplied a 41-yard interception return for a score.

Eldorado quarterback JaQuorrey Williams scored on an 11-yard run and passed for 190 yards and a score. Brett VanOrden had five catches for 110 yards.

-- Tim Guesman

■ Durango 74, Bonanza 28 -- At Bonanza, the No. 8 Trailblazers (2-1) gained an astonishing 756 yards and had three 100-yard rushers to rout the Bengals (0-2) in their Southwest League opener.

Julio Mora rushed for 279 yards, Donovan Smith 163 and Brandon Pena 106. Mora ran for three scores and caught a TD pass, Smith ran for two scores and made two TD catches, and Pena had a 10-yard TD run.

Durango quarterback Chase Roberts passed for 131 yards and three TDs.

Senior Dasean Martin accounted for 266 yards and all four Bonanza touchdowns, including receptions of 45, 15 and 52 yards from Sterling Sprau.

-- Rishi Daulat

■ Del Sol 49, Valley 19 -- At Del Sol, Chris Marshall rushed for 321 yards on 26 carries as the ninth-ranked Dragons (2-1) beat the Vikings (0-3). Marshall had TD runs of 26, 4, 30 and 6 yards.

-- Adam Candee

■ Mountain Crest (Utah) 51, Las Vegas 7 -- At Hyrum, Utah, Alex Kuresa passed for six touchdowns and ran for another as Mountain Crest (3-1) scored the final 51 points to rout the Wildcats (2-1).

Las Vegas scored early on an 86-yard pass from Hasaan Henderson to Cameron Rogers, but Mountain Crest dominated after that.

■ Desert Oasis 49, Western 6 -- At Western, the Diamondbacks (2-1, 1-0 Southwest) piled up 311 rushing yards by halftime and finished with 463 while defeating the Warriors (1-1, 0-1).

Kambrenn Heatley had 167 yards on 17 carries for Desert Oasis, which held Western to 25 yards in the second half.

Tadarrel Mason scored on an 83-yard run on Western's first play from scrimmage.

-- Matthew Hagan

■ Shadow Ridge 39, Chaparral 6 -- At Chaparral, Nick McDearmon passed for 109 yards and two TDs to help the Mustangs (2-0) defeat the Cowboys (0-2).

Austin Jones had 50 receiving yards, including a 32-yard touchdown

Braden Williams kicked field goals of 38, 26, 33 and 29 yards for Shadow Ridge.

-- Nolan Lister

■ Green Valley 38, Rancho 35 -- At Rancho, James Durbin kicked a 22-yard field goal with 12.1 seconds to go to lift the Gators (1-2) over the Rams (1-2).

Green Valley scored 25 fourth-quarter points to rally from a 35-13 deficit. Paul McKay took over at quarterback in the second half and guided the comeback with two fourth-quarter TD passes. The Gators also recovered two onside kicks in the quarter.

-- Vincent Hernandez

■ Cimarron-Memorial 37, Cheyenne 8 -- At Cheyenne, Brandon Robinson returned an interception 26 yards for a touchdown and caught a 5-yard TD pass from Gerard Martinez to lead the Spartans (1-1, 1-0 Northwest) over the Desert Shields (0-1, 0-1).

Christian Brown rushed for 100 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown, for Cimarron, which forced four turnovers.

-- Adam Berchin

■ Sierra Vista 20, Pahrump Valley 0 -- At Pahrump, Matt Murphy scored twice to lead the Mountain Lions (1-2, 1-0 Southwest) over the Trojans (0-2, 0-1).

Murphy scored Sierra Vista's first points of the season with a 3-yard TD run in the first quarter and added a 9-yard touchdown run in the fourth.

-- Don McDermott

■ Coronado 42, Sunrise Mountain 7 -- At Coronado, Barry MacNeil's four touchdowns carried Coronado to a 28-0 halftime lead, and the Cougars (1-1) cruised past the Miners (0-2).

MacNeil scored on two 20-yard runs and receptions of 53 and 41 yards from Austin Iannucci.

Iannucci completed 11 of 15 passes for 205 yards before giving way to Matthew Knapp, who threw a 15-yard TD pass.

-- Richard Warren

■ Virgin Valley 47, The Meadows 6 -- At The Meadows, the Bulldogs (2-1) coasted past the Mustangs (0-2).

Virgin Valley's Humberto Urias passed for 90 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 63 yards and one score. He also intercepted a pass at linebacker.

Richard Vidal ran for two 3-yard touchdowns and rushed for 54 yards, helping the Class 3A Bulldogs outgain the 2A Mustangs, 402-187.

The Meadows' Garrett Gosse completed 13 of 32 passes for 121 yards. Austin Brown had 78 yards receiving, including a 25-yard touchdown from Gosse.

-- Tristan Aird

■ Diamond Ranch (Utah) 40, Calvary Chapel 0 -- At Henderson International, Jon Alkin ran for three touchdowns and returned a punt 64 yards for a score to lift the Diamondbacks over the Lions (0-2).

Diamond Ranch had 333 yards, led by Alkin, who rushed for 167 and touchdowns of 7, 23 and 16 yards. Senior quarterback Cody Taylor accounted for 133 of Calvary Chapel's 140 yards.

-- William Terrill

■ La Jolla Country Day (Calif.) 37, Mountain View 14 -- At La Jolla, Calif., Justyn Anderson scored on runs of 10 and 14 yards for the Saints (1-2) after the Torreys (1-1) led 37-0 in the third quarter.

Anderson rushed for 140 yards.

Eduardo Garcia rushed for TDs of 10, 6 and 3 yards and caught a pass for another for La Jolla Country Day.