Unbeaten L.A. Valley rides big plays to 47-35 win

L.A. Valley racked up 303 rushing yards and four touchdowns on Saturday in a 47-35 win over SBCC that gave the Monarchs the American Pacific League football championship.

Darian Albrecht rushed 10 times for 179 yards (17.9 average) and two TDs, including a 74-yarder that made it 7-0. Trevor Laurent also hit the century mark with 117 yards on 14 attempts (8.4 average) in the regular-season finale in front of 2,635 at La Playa Stadium.

Valley (10-0, 5-0) scored two touchdowns in the last 1:15 of the first half to take a 26-7 lead. The 14th-ranked Monarchs marched 49 yards, capped by a fake punt that produced a perfect 23-yard TD pass from QB Christian Jorgenson to Chris Phillips. The Vaqueros were on the LAV 42 with 15 seconds to go in the half when Noah Holle threw a pass to the right side that was picked off by Donzale Roddie and returned for a 69-yard touchdown.

"There's nothing OK about losing but I was proud of how my guys played until the last snap," said coach Craig Moropoulos. "We turned the ball over too much. Noah just forced that interception on the last play of the half. Sometimes that happens when you're trying to make  a play.

"You've gotta know that sometimes  it's better to just eat the ball than force the ball when it doesn't look comfortable. This was Noah's first game in three weeks and he was a little rusty."

Holle completed 22-of-35 for 208 yards and three TDs for the No. 24 Vaqueros (7-3, 3-2), who finished second in the APL for the first time ever. It was their highest conference finish in 25 years.

The total yards were close with Valley netting 388 and the Vaqueros 364. SBCC ran 23 more plays (82 to 59), had nine more first downs (25-16) and dominated the time of possession by 16½ minutes (38:15 to 21:45).

Valley had five touchdowns of 57 or more yards, highlighted by Ahkil Crumpton's 86-yard kickoff return after the Vaqueros pulled within 12 (26-14) on a 3-yard run by Cedric Cooper with 10:22 to go in the third quarter. Cooper caught a 9-yard TD from Holle to cap an 80-yard drive with 34 seconds to go in the third, shaving the deficit to 33-21.

The Monarchs averaged 7.6 yards on their 40 rushing attempts and held the Vaquero rushing attack, which entered the game at No. 6 in the state averaging 213 yards, to 79 yards on 37 tries.

The Vaqueros' 35 points were the most allowed by Valley this season.

Holle left the game in the fourth quarter with an injury with his team trailing 40-27 and was replaced by Timothy Milliken. The Vaqueros also lost receiver/kick returner Jason-Matthew Sharsh and running back Emmanuel Nwosu to injuries in the first and second quarters, respectively.

Milliken entered with 7:13 to go in the fourth quarter and immediately connected with Elijah Cunningham on a 30-yard gain. Frederick Wortham stripped the ball from Milliken on the next play and teammate Elijah Staton recovered at his own 42.

After a 1-yard loss, Laurent burst through the left side for a 59-yard touchdown that boosted the lead to 47-28.

"In defense of Tim, he's basically a third-team quarterback who's stepped up huge this year," Moropoulos noted. "To just jump in a game without much warmup, I admire him for that. Yes, he fumbled but he also directed a 72-yard drive for a touchdown."

Milliken capped that march with a 9-yard TD toss to tight end Jacob Ortale. The Vaqueros got within 12 on three occasions in the second half but couldn't get any closer.

Valley, ranked No. 1 in the SCFA Pacific Division, will play for the Pacific Division championship next Saturday. The Vaqueros are hoping to receive a bowl bid and they'll find out on Sunday when the bowl lineup is announced.

"The big thing is seven wins are not looking too bad right now," said Moropoulos, who guided his injury riddled team to seven wins for the third time in the last four years. "We lost three more guys to injury today. That's part of the game and it's just a matter of how you deal with it and who steps up to replace them."

Freshman linebacker Dallas Martin led the Vaquero defense with nine tackles, giving him 100 for the season. He No. 1 among APL tacklers with his 10.0 average and he's fifth in the state.