Explosive Legacy rolls past Hurricane in opener
The Legacy football team put together a beautiful, 14-play drive during the first half of its season opener that yielded absolutely nothing on the scoreboard.
Casey Hughes and DeMichael Walker proved it was about quality rather than quantity for the Longhorns on Saturday.
Hughes and Walker combined to rush for 367 yards and score four touchdowns, and No. 6 Legacy showed off its big-play capabilities in a 34-14 victory over visiting Hurricane (Utah).
“Those kids are capable of doing that on a regular basis,” Longhorns coach Dave Snyder said. “They’re very explosive kids.”
Hughes, a senior, finished with a game-high 189 yards on 15 carries, scoring on a 46-yard run in the second quarter and a 64-yard sprint late in the fourth quarter.
Walker added 178 yards rushing, including an 84-yard touchdown run down the left sideline that put the Longhorns (1-0) up 21-7 early in the third quarter. The junior also scored on a 99-yard kickoff return after Hurricane linebacker Jeremiah Ieremia brought back an interception 21 yards for a TD on the first play of the game.
“Obviously they’re both going to get carries. They’re outstanding running backs,” Snyder said. “We’re trying some new things on offense. We have some good athletes, and we’re trying to get them the ball, but we didn’t forget what we’re made of. We established the line of scrimmage, and that’s what won the game for us.”
The Longhorns defense held Hurricane (0-3) to 196 yards of total offense, with a chunk of that coming on the final drive well after the game was decided. J.D. Stansworth led the Tigers with 43 yards rushing.
“Our defense played really well,” Snyder said. “We’re going to rely on them heavily.”
Cody Polvado added 54 yards on the ground for Legacy, all in the first half. The Longhorns finished with 420 yards rushing.
After Ethan Stratton missed a 47-yard field-goal try for Hurricane late in the third quarter — Stratton also pushed a 50-yard attempt just wide right in the first quarter — Walker helped the Longhorns put away the game as he busted loose for a 44-yard run.
Six plays later, quarterback Devin Williams went in from 3 yards to cap the 80-yard drive and give Legacy a 28-7 lead with 28.2 seconds remaining in the quarter.
“We have a good offensive line. Those guys work hard,” Snyder said. “They understand we like to pound the football, and they take care of business.”
■ Shadow Ridge 47, Rancho 2 — At Shadow Ridge, the Mustangs racked up 335 rushing yards and routed the Rams.
Senior Tyrique Graham led all rushers with 83 yards and one touchdown on nine carries.
Shadow Ridge (1-1) did much of its work during the first half, opening up a 40-0 lead behind 335 yards of total offense.
Senior quarterback Dustin Puia completed all three of his first-half pass attempts to senior wideout Keyshawn Grammage, including touchdowns of 16 and 43 yards. The pair combined for 71 yards through the air.
■ Green Valley 58, Basic 36 — Larry Norman rushed 28 times for 225 yards and a touchdown to lead the Gators.
Though Basic led 14-10 at the end of the first quarter, the Gators took over in the second and led 30-20 at halftime when Christian Lopez connected with Kyler Chavez for a 22-yard touchdown just before halftime.
The Gators extended their lead to 44-20 on another pass from Lopez to Chavez early in the third quarter. The Wolves battled back to cut the deficit to 44-36, but Green Valley controlled the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
Lopez completed 19 of 26 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns to help Green Valley. Markus Varner caught eight passes for 11 yards and a TD.
Antraye Johnson completed 11 of 22 passes for 234 yards and a TD to lead Basic.
■ Canyon Springs 16, Coronado 15 (OT) — At Canyon Springs, Bradley Alexander threw a two-point conversion pass to Marck Cassino in overtime to lift the Pioneers over the Cougars.
Zaviontay Stevenson scored on a 7-yard run to bring Canyon Springs (1-0) within 15-14 and set up the two-point conversion. Stevenson had 24 carries for 118 yards to lead the Pioneers’ ground attack.
Coronado (0-2) had taken its first lead of the game on it first possession of overtime when John Farella scored on a quarterback keeper from 1 yard out. Spencer Cofer connected on the extra point to put the Cougars ahead 15-8.
Alexander hit 14 of 26 passes for 194 yards for Canyon Springs. He gave the Pioneers the lead on a 1-yard quarterback sneak with 15 seconds left in the second quarter. Kyhren Howard then hauled in an Alexader pass on the two-point try to make it 8-0.
Coronado pulled even when Jackson Cofer scored on a 22-yard pass from Faella in the third quarter. Farella then hit Tanner Gorski with a pass on the two-point conversion to tie it up.
Farella threw for 133 yards on 22-of-36 passing to lead the Cougars.
■ Las Vegas 61, Foothill 32 — At Foothill, the Wildcats scored 35 first-quarter points, then held off a furious rally.
After the Wildcats scored 35 points in the first 9:21 of the game, the Falcons woke up. Junior quarterback Nick Gardner, who replaced injured senior quarterback Drew Doxtator, led the Falcons’ rally, drawing Foothill to within 10 points with 10:28 remaining.
Las Vegas was led by senior quarterback Trevor Swenson, who completed 23 of 34 passes for 375 yards and two touchdown passes. Senior running back Andrew Moreland ran for 152 yards on 18 carries, including four touchdowns. He also caught one pass for five yards.
Gardner sparked the Falcons’ offense, completing 20 of 35 passes for 285 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for a score.
■ Valley 34, Del Sol 23 — At Del Sol, Valley erased a 16-point deficit and scored 27 unanswered points in the second half to open the season with a comeback win over the Dragons.
Del Sol opened the third quarter with touchdowns on back-to-back possessions to take a 23-7 lead in only five plays. But the Valley offense took over from there. The Vikings scored touchdowns on four straight possessions, led by Tyrone Prewitt, who had TD runs of 65 and 30 yards, both in the final quarter, totaling 135 yards on 12 carries.
Valley also received TD runs from Amari Tatum and Malik Batiste of 15 and 13 yards, respectively, in the third.
Senior running back Austin Higgins led Del Sol with 146 yards on 28 carries and a touchdown.
■ Faith Lutheran 31, Sunrise Mountain 6 — With 4.6 seconds to play in the first half, Faith Lutheran’s Keenan Smith took an errant field-goal attempt by Sunrise Mountain and returned it 90 yards for a touchdown. The play halted a 12-play Miners drive and turned a potential 10-3 score into a 17-0 Faith lead as time ran out in the second quarter. From there, the game was never in doubt.
Smith also led the Crusaders on offense, gaining 156 yards on 14 carries and scoring on runs of 13 and 54 yards. Senior Trent Dolby was perfect on four PATs and added a 24-yard field goal that started the scoring.
After Faith (1-2) extended its lead to 31-0 on a Fabian Lagudi run from 10 yards out, the Miners got an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Romello Tatum.
■ Mojave 27 Spring Valley 6 — At Spring Valley, Rattlers running back Elijah Smoot had touchdowns on both sides of the ball to lead Mojave.
Smoot recovered a fumble and went 63 yards for his first score. Smoot’s second score came on a 38-yard run in the third quarter.
Mojave quarterback Zack Arave passed for 151 yards and a touchdown. Spring Valley linebacker Christian Tasi recovered a fumble and returned it 23 yards for the Grizzlies’ score.
■ Moapa Valley 41, Clark 8 — At Clark, Zach Hymas threw for two touchdowns and ran for a score as the Pirates coasted.
Hymas scored on a 4-yard keeper to cap a 69-yard drive at the end of the first quarter. Hymas then found Tyler Zobrist for a 1-yard TD and Jeremy Waite on a 24-yard strike to make it 20-0 at the half.
Moapa Valley’s Jared Repp returned the second-half kickoff 55 yards, and Justin Hughes scored on a 25-yard scamper on the next play to make it 28-0. Waite supplied a 64-yard punt return for a TD, and Andrew Huerta added an 11-yard rush to make it 41-0.
Hymas finished 12-for-16 for 148 yards, and Huerta rushed for 86 yards on nine carries.
Kareem Warren passed for 125 yards and connected on a 1-yard TD pass to Marquice Stuart, who provided the 2-point conversion and an interception on defense for Clark.
■ Chaparral 20, Eldorado 14 – At Eldorado, on fourth-and-8 with the score tied at 14-14 and 34 seconds remaining in the game, Justin Alpha broke a tackle and ran 34 yards to give the Cowboys the victory over the Sundevils in the annual “Cleat Game.”
Chaparral’s Seitu Wyche opened the scoring halfway through the third quarter on an 11-yard TD run, with Alpha adding a two-point conversion. Eldorado answered on the ensuing kickoff with a 91-yard return for a score by Daveez Booth.
The Sundevils forced a turnover on downs on the following Cowboys drive and took a 14-8 lead on Joshua Brown’s 5-yard touchdown run with 8:24 left in the game. Chaparral responded immediately with an 86-yard kickoff return by Richard Nelson. The extra point was blocked to leave the game knotted 14-14.
Eldorado forced a punt with about two minutes remaining, but a muffed return gave the ball back to the Cowboys, which led to Alpha’s touchdown run four plays later.
■ Boulder City 58, Western 0 — At Western, Boulder City set the tone on its first possession as Xavier Steel sprinted around right end on a 22-yard run to the Western 1-yard line. The drive stalled, but later in the first quarter, Roe Brooks took it in from 22 yards out as the Eagles took an 8-0 first-quarter lead.
The Eagles (1-1) then exploded during the second quarter, scoring five times. Three of the drives started at or inside the Western 5-yard line, resulting in three touchdowns. The other two scores came on a 41-yard punt return by Xavier Steel and a 28-yard run by Sam Woodbury. Boulder City led at the half 45-0.
The bright spot in the game for Western (0-2) came on a 40-yard kickoff return by Miles Snyder.
■ Meadows 36, Flintridge Prep (Calif.) 20 — Bryson Bickart exploded for 145 first-half rushing yards with a touchdown and scored a two-point conversion as the Mustangs beat the Rebels.
Bickart finished with 209 yards on 19 carries. Nathan DeVera added two touchdowns on the ground to go along with 10 carries for 46 yards for Meadows, which led 29-7 at the half.
Stefan Smith was the main contributor for Flintridge Prep, accounting for 167 yards on 17 carries and all three of the Rebels’ touchdowns.
■ Desert Pines 41, Pahrump Valley 27 — At Pahrump, the Jaguars (2-0) returned two punts for touchdowns in the second half to break open a close game and defeat the Trojans (1-1).
Scott Maughan rushed for 131 yards and two touchdowns to lead Pahrump Valley, which trailed 14-12 at halftime and 27-19 after three quarters. Trojans quarterback A.J. Segura ran for a score and also threw a TD pass to Deon Estes.
