Central Valley High School’s football team seized the momentum by scoring a pair of touchdowns in opening quarter of last week’s league opener versus visiting Buhach Colony.
The excitement didn’t last very long as the Thunder reeled off 34 straight points en route to posting a 42-21 victory over the Hawks in Central California Conference action Friday evening at CUSD Stadium.
“If we played with the same intensity the whole game, we would have kept it a lot closer,” said Central Valley senior Elijah “Booty” Jackson, who contributed at fullback and tight end.
The Hawks dropped to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the CCC standings.
The Thunder improved to 3-3 and 1-1.
Central Valley suffered its third straight loss.
“It’s not where I expected us to be,” Jackson said. “I thought our record was going to be a lot better.”
Central Valley’s offense struggled for the second week in a row.
The Hawks mustered just 138 yards and committed three turnovers versus the Thunder.
Central Valley totaled 145 yards in a 31-6 loss to Enochs on Sept. 16.
The Hawks have been outscored 137-72 this season.
Hawk junior quarterback Darrius Jackson completed 11 of 24 passes for 86 yards with one touchdown, one interception and two fumbles. Jackson made his second start in place of Mario Gonzalez, who suffered a broken left collarbone against Ceres High.
Amari O’Bryant finished with 18 yards and one TD on two receptions.
Elijah Jackson rushed for 28 yards and one touchdown on eight carries.
Jayson Casias grabbed six passes for 43 yards.
Anthony Ramirez caught one pass for 26 yards and ran for 12 yards on two carries.
Josiah Sandoval had an 85-yard kickoff return touchdown.
Luis Munoz made all three of his point-after kicks.
O’Bryant made 11 tackles on defense.
Ramirez tallied 10 tackles.
Joshua Hale and Tristan Villicana finished with eight tackles apiece.
Joey Zuniga collected seven tackles.
Sandoval and Davis Lewis both made five tackles.
Felix Arellano had five tackles and one fumble recovery.
Munoz had four tackles and one fumble recovery.
Ricardo Perez had three tackles.
The Hawks led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Sandoval returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown.
Elijah Jackson scored on a 1-yard run.
Buhach Colony outscored Central Valley 34-0 in the middle periods.
Each team tallied one touchdown in the fourth quarter.
O’Bryant and Darrius Jackson combined for a 5-yard TD with 7:38 remaining in the game.
“The intensity was there at the beginning and everything dropped after that,” Elijah Jackson said. “We got a little too comfortable after we scored the first 14 points. Buhach Colony didn’t give up on themselves.”
