Valley Christian triumphs
Running backs lead way as Warriors beat Campolindo
SAN JOSE — Valley Christian’s running game and defense were too much for Campolindo, which won a state championship two years ago and a Northern California title last season.
Senior running backs Javon Sturns and Trent Laubach delivered a strong one-two punch as Valley Christian won on its home field in San Jose on Friday, 21-7.
Sturns and Laubach consistently moved the chains to sustain long, methodical drives for Valley Christian.
“That was planned,” Valley Christian coach Mike Machado said. “We want to run the ball. We have one of the better quarterbacks in the section and if we can run the ball and give him the opportunity for play-action it’s going to be tough to stop us.”
The power running from Sturns was on display in the first drive of the game as he led the charge and got the Warriors into the red zone. Quarterback Miles Kendrick capped the drive off as he connected on a 12-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Flores for the 7-0 lead.
Campolindo (0-1) with a big turnover came as it up recovered a fumble inside Valley Christian territory. Senior quarterback Jacob Westphal led a nice drive that culminated in a 2yard touchdown run from Noah Loeliger to even the score.
The Valley Christian turnover was one of several mistakes Machado was displeased with throughout the game.
“We allowed them to stay in the game and that’s not good” Machado said.
Sturns made his coach pull some hairs out late in the second half. With the Warriors leading a drive of nearly 80 yards, he fumbled at the goal line. The ball was recovered by Campolindo and the two teams went into the half tied 7-7 despite Valley Christian dominating with 230 yards compared to just 70 from Campolindo.
After a touchdown run from Laubach put Valley Christian back on top 13-7, the Cougars completely shifted the momentum to their side. Michael Hooper picked off a bad pass from Kendrick and almost took it to the house before getting tackled by Conner Edgar at the 2-yard line. Edgar’s tackle would prove to be huge.
As quickly as the Warriors lost momentum they gained it back after a hit on Westphal at the 2-yard line knocked the ball loose and was recovered by Valley Christian. Machado said that probably the play of the game.
“That was huge,” Machado said. “They were on the doorstep of going in for the touchdown and we shut them down.”
Sturns would redeem himself in the fourth quarter with a touchdown run that essentially put the game away at 21-7 as the Valley Christian defense continued to shut down Campolindo’s offense for the remainder of the game. Despite the victory, Machado wasn’t totally satisfied.
“We made too many mistakes, but we’ll clean that up in practice,” Machado said.
South Bay/Peninsula
For one half, the season opener between and
seemed to follow the same script as last year’s Central Coast Section Open Division II final. This time, however, St. Francis wrote a much happier ending, defeating visiting Oak Grove 24-7 on Friday night behind a stout defense. “Defense was our main focus going in,” said St. Francis cornerback/receiver
who intercepted a pass near the goal line and also caught a touchdown pass . ... All doubts about a
team coming off a Northern California title last season might have been erased on the first offensive play as
took a handoff 65 yards untouched to the end zone to begin a season-opening 34-20 win over at San Jose City College. (121 yards) and Manigo (109) led the Bellarmine ground attack . ...
controlled both sides of the ball from the start on its way to a 35-7 victory at home over Led by and
Los Gatos finished with 344 total yards, including 295 rushing . ... the favorite to win the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division, trailed by a point at halftime against
before rallying at home to win 27-7 . ...
rushed for 330 yards in its 56-15 rout of visiting ... ran for three touchdowns as rallied to defeat 33-20 . ... for 243 yards and
stopped a late two-point conversion try in a 27-26 win at
. ... caught two TD passes from in the second quarter as beat rushed 21-12.