COLLEGE FOOTBALL ROUNDUP : Pierce Staggers Rival Valley, 35-14

Valley College carted out the victory bell Saturday night and dangled it in front of rival Pierce. The Brahmas snatched it away.

Pierce, playing its best game of the season, defeated Valley, 35-14, in a Western State Conference game at Valley to improve to 4-5 overall, 4-4 in conference play and 2-2 in the WSC Southern Division.

The bell, which goes to the winner of the Valley-Pierce game, returns to the Brahmas, who lead the series, 15-9. Pierce last defeated Valley in 1985 but the series was suspended the following two years because Pierce dropped its football program because of budget cuts. Valley won the past two years.

Valley (3-6, 3-5, 1-3) trailed, 27-0, at halftime but staged a brief third-period comeback. Mark Mengoni threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Bridges and Craig Pringle went 18 yards with a blocked punt for a touchdown.

Pierce quelled the rally, however, marching 80 yards in 17 plays and scoring on LaShante Parker’s three-yard run.

Parker, who had sat out two of the past three games because of a sprained ankle, led all rushers with 83 yards.

There were 207 yards in penalties in the emotion-filled game, 125 of them against Valley.

Pierce did little wrong in the first half. Jamie Grossman threw touchdown passes of 10 and 21 yards to Arie McQuaig, D. J. Vlaming broke loose on a 25-yard scoring run, and Rick Luna intercepted a Trendell Williams pass and went 54 yards to score.