By Max Clark
For The Signal
It was a Halloween night to remember for the Valencia Vikings — and one the Castaic Coyotes will be eager to forget.
Behind a balanced attack and relentless defense, the Foothill League champion Vikings (9-1, 6-0) capped off their season with a dominant 63-0 win over the winless Coyotes (0-10, 0-6) on Friday night. The victory extended Valencia’s winning streak to seven games and marked the Vikings’ largest margin of victory this season.
“It’s about the standard,” said Valencia head coach Larry Muir. “Whether we play Hart or Castaic, it’s the same. The standard for us is being the best that we can be every single time we come out onto the field. These guys have done a great job of that from day one.”
The game’s tone was set early as Valencia’s offense fired on all cylinders. Senior quarterback Brady Bretthauer efficiently led the first few drives before freshman backup Evan McCalister took over and impressed in extended action.
Running back Justin Pointer had a standout night, finding the end zone a few times, including a 28-yard burst up the middle in the second quarter to make it 42-0. The Vikings’ 42 points before halftime were their most in any half this year.
Valencia’s special teams added to the onslaught when Anthony Vernon muffed a punt, recovered it, and bounced to the outside for a 47-yard touchdown that pushed the lead to 35-0.
On the other side, the Coyotes struggled to find any rhythm. Quarterback Cody King, making just his second varsity start, showed flashes of composure, connecting with Aidan Mojica and Grayson Gonzales for a few key completions. But Castaic’s drives often stalled, including a promising red-zone opportunity in the second quarter that ended in a turnover on downs.
Muir turned to his reserves in the second half, and they continued to execute flawlessly. McCalister connected with Luke Paolilo on a 38-yard screen that set up a short touchdown run, extending the lead to 49-0. Later, Luke Valdez sprinted up the middle for another score before PJ Cano added the final touchdown on a 20-yard run in the closing minutes.
“I’m just happy for every single one of them,” Muir said of his second unit. “There are so many great players on this team who do the work every day on scout teams. Sometimes they don’t get to play as much as we’d like, but tonight everyone played well.”
For Castaic, the loss capped a difficult, injury-plagued season. Head coach Sirr Guy Shakir said the team’s struggles were compounded by the heavy workload placed on several young players.
“A lot of guys got varsity experience,” Shakir said. “We had players who’d played 900 to 1,000 snaps this season. That’s a ton of football. When you get that kind of usage, you start to worry about injuries — and as the season went on, those injuries that would normally keep guys out for a week of practice turned into ones that sidelined them for multiple games — or even the rest of the season.”
Still, Shakir emphasized growth and development as the focus of the year.
“It’s an opportunity for growth,” he said. “That’s what we said before the year started — this was a year of growth for us. We did that, so now we get back to the drawing board on Nov. 10 and start preparing for next season.”
The Coyotes coach also praised his young quarterback and senior leaders.
“[King] was in command of what we needed him to do,” Shakir said. “He’s only played about eight quarters of varsity football, but if I were grading him out, his grades would be pretty high. He has a bright future.”
He added, “Grayson [Gonzales] has been here four years — he’s the epitome of what we want in a football player. When you talk about what it means to be a Coyote, when we speak our creed, he represents that, and Aidan [Mojica] does, too.”
As Valencia prepares for the postseason, Muir said the focus remains on execution and discipline.
“Execution is the name of the game,” he said. “It’s not easy work — it’s hard to get to this point. The guys have done a great job of that.”
For the Coyotes, a long offseason begins. The Vikings, meanwhile, turn their attention to the playoffs.
