3rd-Quarter Surge by Valley Buries Ventura, 41-24

It took a bit of shock therapy for the Valley College offense to shake loose in Saturday night’s Western State Conference football game against Ventura, but once the Monarchs awoke they were unstoppable in a 41-24 victory at Valley.

Trailing, 10-7, after Ventura running back Mike Gee rambled 18 yards for a touchdown midway through the second quarter, Valley drove 55 yards for a game- tying field goal with 2 minutes 5 seconds left in the half, then put together a three-play, 88-yard touchdown drive to take a 17-10 lead four seconds before halftime.

Valley (3-1-1, 3-1 in WSC play) then took control by scoring 17 points during the last six minutes of the third quarter to take a 34-17 lead.

Howard Blackwell (179 yards in 20 carries, three touchdowns) capped the late second-quarter drive with a two-yard run, and quarterback Joe Mauldin started it with a 65-yard pass to Randolph Brown, and followed that with a dump pass to Blackwell, who turned it into a 21-yard gain.

Mauldin displayed his athletic ability on the pass to Brown as he rolled right to avoid a blitz and then threw the ball 60 yards down the center of the field.

“I don’t know what took us so long to get going,” Mauldin said. “We didn’t take them lightly, but they were just a little bit quicker than we expected.”

Once Mauldin (19 of 30 for 263 yards, one touchdown) and his teammates adjusted, there was no stopping the Monarchs, who scored on four of their first five possessions in the second half.

The Monarchs began the third-quarter onslaught by marching 80 yards in six plays, capped by Mauldin’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Benny Evans with 6:26 left in the period.

After Ventura closed the deficit to 24-17 on a screen pass that Vince Lampkin took 16 yards for a touchdown, Valley drove 56 yards in seven plays, capped by Blackwell’s 21-yard run with 3:06 left in the quarter.

After a fumble by Gee, the Monarchs drove 31 yards in six plays, settling for a 39-yard field goal by Jamie Ballesteros.

Ventura (0-5, 0-4) was led by the former Birmingham High duo of Lampkin and quarterback Alan Sedacca.

Sedacca completed 16 of 25 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns. Both of his scoring passes went to Lampkin, who had six receptions for 75 yards.