Valencia Vikings running back Brian Bonner was near unstoppable in Friday night’s decimation of Saugus.
The Vikings buried the Centurions, 62-21, in their Foothill League opener behind five touchdowns, all in the first three quarters, from the junior Bonner, earning Valencia its first win of the season.
Bonner finished the day just under 300 all-purpose yards with four rushing touchdowns and one scoring reception from Valencia quarterback Brady Bretthauer.
Bonner showed signs he was in for a big night early on as he took his first run for 54 yards. After back-to-back solid runs later in the drive, he capped off the Vikings’ second drive with a 1-yard score.
“I feel really great,” Bonner said. “I want to thank the offensive line. They did a really great job blocking. I couldn’t have done that without them.”
Saugus’ run game also looked like it was in for a big night early on. Centurions running back Ty Hall racked up over 15 yards on his first three touches. However, Valencia started grinding through the trenches up front and Hall hit a wall for the remainder of the first half.
The Vikings led just 7-0 after the first quarter and trailed at multiple times in the second, but Bonner and Bretthauer fueled the offensive onslaught.
Saugus gave Valencia some problems in the second quarter but could only keep the Vikings out of the end zone on one drive in the first half.
Valencia’s passing attack took some time to warm up but eventually Bretthauer and his receivers found their stride.
Bretthauer and receiver Nick Seymour connected for two touchdowns, including a 65-yard scoring play on their first play of the second half.
Valencia wide receiver Logan Thompson also was a threat and finished with a touchdown and five receptions.
It was Bonner’s night but Valencia coach Larry Muir knows he has multiple offensive weapons capable of changing a game.
“You gotta figure out different ways to get the ball in (Bonner’s) hands,” Muir said. “Between Brady, Bonner and Nick Seymour, there’s a lot of different weapons on offense. The nice thing is I think they all complement each other really well. So he’s great but there’s a lot of different guys that can do different things, and it’s nice to have a diverse offense like that.”
Saugus found plenty of success in the first half with multiple explosive plays fueling the team.
The Centurions’ biggest splash came through the passing game but not from quarterback Jake Nuttall. After getting the reverse pass from Nuttall, tight end Rylan Connelly launched the ball down the field to a streaking Christian Lozano, who racked up 51 yards on the play.
Saugus took its second lead of the night later in the drive on a touchdown pass from Nuttall to Johnathon Sabatucci to go up, 15-14.
Bonner took over in the second half and scorched the Centurion defense on back-to-back touchdowns to bring his total to five.
Nuttall played well, but just couldn’t power his offense to more than three touchdowns, two of which went to sophomore wideout Landon Lattimore.
Valencia took its lumps in the preseason but now earns its first win when it matters most.
“It’s a whole new beginning and that was exciting,” Muir said. “That was the big thing of the week, a new rebirth and kind of a new start and a new season. You got your preseason to set you up for league, and I’m just proud of every single one of them that they did that, they learned their lessons, and they played at a high level.”
Muir’s team kept its confidence high despite going 0-4 to start the season for the first time in his long coaching tenure. However, Bonner and the Vikings felt a Foothill League title is still in their grasp.
“We had a rough non-league, as everyone knows, but we stayed positive and practiced hard every week,” Bonner said. “In this first league game, we wanted to set a tone and show everyone else in league that we’re coming and we’re not going to take our foot off the gas.”
The Vikings now take their full head of steam into the bye week while Saugus moves on and will prepare for Canyon next Friday.
“It’s good to have something positive and take a big step forward going into the bye week,” Muir said. “Now we have to build off it and grow from it and keep going that direction. We’re taking it one week at a time. We wanna go 1-0 every week.”