Grounded Santa Ana Valley Wins

It’s doubtful anyone on the sidelines was surprised at the method Santa Ana Valley High School used to defeat Canyon, 31-0, Thursday night at Santa Ana Stadium.

With few exceptions, Santa Ana Valley stayed on the ground.

The Falcons (2-3-1, 1-0) did try five passes in 44 plays, completing three. Quarterback James Stewart threw an 21-yard touchdown pass to Scottie Strong and backup Gary Graves completed two passes in two attempts for 40 yards, but it was a runner’s night for Santa Ana Valley.

Led by Jessie Brooks, who gained 178 yards in 26 carries, Santa Ana Valley punished Canyon (2-4) in the Century League opener for both teams.

It was a simple game plan, one painfully apparent to Canyon Coach Loren Shumer.

“We knew that they had good fast backs,” Shumer said. “We knew we had to close down their running game and we couldn’t do it.”

Santa Ana Valley Coach Dan Castanon said the offensive simplicity was designed to get his team back to basics after some experimentation in nonleague games.

“We just said, ‘Forget it, it is league time and we’re just going to pound the ball,’ ” Castanon said.

Brooks did most of the pounding. He scored two touchdowns, one on a 10-yard run in the second quarter that put the Falcons ahead, 17-0, and the second on a one-yard dive that closed the scoring.

Santa Ana Valley’s other running back, Henry Bratton, returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. Bratton caught the ball nearby one sideline, ran across the field to the other sideline and ran into the end zone without much interference. Bratton also rushed for 48 yards on 11 carries.

Canyon had difficultly recovering from that beginning. Canyon quarterback Chuck Nickerson was facing a daunting defense and not faring very well. Nickerson, who completed eight of 17 passes for 88 yards, was sacked seven times and threw two interceptions.

Yorki Tafulu was a big reason for Nickerson’s problems. Tafulu, a 180-pound lineman, sacked Nickerson three times in the first half. One of the sacks caused a Nickerson fumble that the Falcons recovered. Tafulu also recovered a fumble and returned the ball nine yards.