Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Steers break Lions cowardly defense

Nat Holland El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

The early roar of the Valley Christian Academy Lions football team quickly turned to a whimper as the Magdalena High School Steers recovered to win a 49-16 rout on Saturday.

Magdalena (3-3) faltered on its opening drive and turned over the ball to the Lions (2-4) 40-yards out. Valley took advantage of the opportunity and scored four minutes into the game on a run by Kyle Williams and a successful conversion run by Logan Rader to take an 8-0 lead.

Two minutes later, on fourth-and-long at the Valley 30-yard line, Magdalena's Brandon Harding threw a pass that bounced out of the hands of Valley defender Gus Gray and into the arms of Briar Billa, the intended receiver, for a score. Harding ran in the conversion to tie the game.

With 4:15 left in the first quarter, Harding found Don McKinley for a 28-yard touchdown pass and the Steers took the lead for good.

"What we did was work on (passing) all practice," offensive coordinator Alan Roes said. "We have the passing schemes — we just get a little antsy sometimes."

Magdalena was an equal threat on the ground, with Billa, Wes Trujillo and Harding making consistent gains on the ground.

"I've got to credit the line today," Roes said. "The wide receivers also came back in to get blocks and give the backs a lane."

McKinley, who is spending more time lately as a receiver because of his height and speed, used his lineman experience for some good downfield blocks.

A recovered Lion fumble was picked up by Magdalena's Nathan Apache early in the second quarter to give the Steers excellent field position and set up a 10-yard touchdown run by Harding.

Valley made its last offensive effort with a six-minute, 80-yard drive to score with 1:08 remaining in the half.

With 26 seconds left, Harding found Reggie Peralto from 32 yards out for a score. A successful kick by Soiky Sosa gave the Steers a 29-16 halftime lead.

"They had some big guys, but we noticed on tape they just liked to stand up a lot," Roes said.

Valley also only had a few subs, and the Steers clearly wore them down by the time the second half started.

"We wanted to use our depth, and we did," Roes said.

In the second half, Magdalena added touchdowns on a 21-yard pass from Harding to Daniel Hand, a 35-yard pass from Harding to McKinley and a 70-yard interception return by Hand.

Saturday was a District 2 8-Man showcase and a good chance for the Steers to watch Reserve (2-3) and Animas (4-1) in action ahead of district play. Tatum shut out Reserve 32-0. Animas started their game trailing 32-8 behind Gateway Christian in the first half. A second half rally by Animas didn't quite succeed in taking back the lead for a final score of 42-40.

"I think we have an excellent shot at both (Reserve and Animas)," Roes said after watching the games.

Roes expected the final district game against Animas on Friday, Oct. 31, to decide the district championship.

"They'll have the homefield advantage, but I feel we can really match up with them," said Roes, who thought Animas would be a tough team on the ground, but vulnerable in the air.

Pine Hill, the only other District 2 team, has glaring triple digit shutouts on its winless record is not expected to be a threat this season.

Magdalena has a bye week before hosting its first district game against Reserve on Friday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m.

nholland@dchieftain.com

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