The Valencia football team couldn’t wait to start its season, and demonstrated its excitement early and often in a 60-7 beatdown of Arcadia on Friday.
The Vikings (1-0) got off to a scorching start as junior Christian Alcantar returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and the Vikings stayed hot throughout the evening, taking a 60-0 lead into halftime.
It’s just as important for Valencia to get off to a hot start against Silverado tonight.
“I think we’re going to come out with a purpose and firing on all cylinders,” said senior Mitchell Torres. “Ryan (Morrison) showed a lot of poise last week in his first varsity start as a quarterback, it was great for him and all of our guys are working as a team and doing what we can to contribute to a win, and that’s the bottom line.”
In his varsity debut, Morrison threw for 164 yards and four touchdowns, completing 8-of-16 passes.
Of his eight completions, six went to different receivers, and senior Jayden Lawrence led the way with two catches for 76 yards and two touchdowns.
Senior Jake Santos displayed his all-around ability, rushing five times for 78 yards and two scores, while adding an interception returned for a touchdown.
While the offense lit up the scoreboard, the defense wasn’t too shabby either, holding the Apaches to just 84 total yards, including -11 rushing yards.Â
Hunter Koch and Santos both had interceptions and Owen Hand recorded two sacks while Max Manno had one. The team had a total of nine tackles for loss.
The Vikings will look to shut down the run game once again, facing a Silverado (0-2) team that has carried the ball 63 times compared to 14 pass attempts in its first two games.
The Hawks are led by a duo of junior tailbacks in Jaishawn Wright and Jawan Howard, who have combined for 262 yards in their first two contests.
“Our defense, we’re a physical unit, and our main goal is to stop the run,” Torres said. “Our game plan this week has been to stop the running game and slow them down on all aspects.”
Silverado has had three different players throw a pass in its first two games. Junior Jessie Murillo has thrown the ball just seven times, completing three passes for 98 yards and a touchdown. Senior Devin Gandy is 0-for-1 and sophomore Ian Wilson is 1-for-6 for 25 yards and two interceptions.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. tonight at Valencia High School.
“There is no like feeling like it, our first home game of the year is always great, packed crowd, it’s an insane feeling,” Torres said. “I’m really excited for tomorrow night, it’s going to be really fun.”
