By Jonathan Andrade
For The Signal
The Valencia Vikings gambled for glory in Friday night’s season opener, but lady luck turned a blind eye.
Down a point in the fourth quarter with an opportunity to tie it up, the Vikings opted for a 2-point conversion with 4:09 on the clock. The play-action pass attempt failed, ultimately leading to a 49-41 Valencia loss to host Simi Valley.
Valencia head coach Larry Muir said he never considered going for the extra point.
“I figured things were kind of going in our direction,” Muir said of the Vikings, who clawed back into the game after trailing 14 points at the half. “In hindsight, I think I could have probably called a better play. I’m just proud of the way they played to put themselves in that position.”
The entire crowd at Simi Valley High anticipated a handoff to Valencia junior running back Brian Bonner — who had three touchdowns on the night — but the Vikings opted for the play action pass that ended in a sack.
“I thought we could get it,” Bonner said. “Sometimes everything doesn’t go your way, but we’ll get that 2-point conversion next time.”
Despite some costly turnovers in the first half, Valencia (0-1) looked solid against a Simi Valley (2-0) team that already had a tune-up match last week.
“I think our guys played hard and kept finding ways to overcome mistakes we made,” Muir said. “We made a lot of mistakes early in the game that put us in a hole.”
From the opening kickoff, Valencia was ready for a slugfest, but two costly turnovers in the second quarter put the Vikings in the hole.
Simi Valley came out firing, driving 62 yards on three plays in the opening drive to take the early lead but Valencia got on the board thanks in large part to a 52-yard pass to Nick Seymour that set up Bonner’s first touchdown run of the night to even it up 7-7.
The Pioneers responded on the ensuing kickoff with a 60-yard touchdown return by Jayden Clarke off a pooch kick. Valencia evened it up 14-14 when quarterback Brady Bretthauer scored on a 2-yard keeper with 3:02 left in the first.
After Simi Valley punted late in the first, the Pioneer defense capitalized on a bobbled Valencia pass in the second quarter. Simi Valley’s Seth Knight snatched it out of the air and returned it to the house to put Simi Valley up 21-14 with 11:45 remaining in the second.
Bretthauer connected on a 45-yard pass to Elias Willis to set up his second touchdown, another quarterback keeper to tie it up 21-21 but Simi Valley took a 35-21 lead into the half.
Valencia’s defense stepped up in the third quarter to snag two interceptions to put the Vikings right back into it.
Valencia used a potent ground attack to get within one point with four minutes left in the fourth.
“I had fun running the ball, but I also made mistakes,” Bonner said of a fumble. “I’ll work on that and as a team we’ll all work on everything we need.
“We’ll be good.”
While the night went the way of the Pioneers, the Vikings are undeterred by the result.
“There’s a lot of good stuff to build off of,” Muir said. “That’s part of the growing process. We’ll grow from this and get better.”
Valencia plays host to Santa Barbara 7 p.m. next Friday in the Vikings home opener.
