Thompson carries Vikings into the postseason

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No. 25 Valencia‘s dominating, 31-9 victory over No. 24 Canyon for the Foothill League‘s final playoff spot was the regional shocker of the night, as far as I’m concerned.

I think everybody pegged Valencia as the favorite, but I thought the Vikings would just squeak past the defending Division I state bowl champs by the slimmest of margins. After all, I didn’t think a team coming off back-to-back divisional titles and five consecutive postseason appearances would go down easily.

Still, I don’t think anyone could have predicted how critical Valencia RB Jordan Thompson would be in fueling the blowout. The 5-foot-8 junior rushed for a career-high 193 yards and two TDs in 22 carries in the absence of leading rusher Nick Hale, who’s out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. That’s an amazing accomplishment when you consider Canyon held the Foothill League’s leading rusher, Saugus’ Ryan Zirbel, to just over 100 yards last week.

I guess the Cowboys were probably a little too preoccupied with stopping QB Graham Wilbert, who still managed to connect on 16 of 23 passes for 208 yards and three TDs. Those numbers are slightly lower than his season average (247 yards a game), but when you throw in a performance like Thompson’s, you don’t need to do everything.

And I have to admit I’m more than a little surprised about how well Valencia has developed over the course of the season. The Vikings took some knocks playing a tough nonleague schedule, but ever since their tough loss to Saugus, they’ve played just as good as any other Foothill League team.

-- Austin Knoblauch