Washington’s 4 Touchdowns Help Santa Monica Slip Past Valley, 44-41

In a prodigious display of offense that at times looked like a three-man track meet, Santa Monica College made its final race to the goal line stand up in a 44-41 victory over host Valley on Saturday night in a Western State Conference Southern Division game.

On one side there was the Valley duo of Joe Mauldin and Howard Blackwell and their accompanying offensive line. On the other side it was bruising Santa Monica tailback Bret Washington and his supporting cast.

Mauldin and Blackwell finished with more total yardage, but it was Washington who stole the show with four second-half touchdowns in an impressive homecoming.

Washington, a former Granada Hills High standout, rushed for 146 yards in 26 carries.

“It was nice to come back,” said the 6-foot, 241-pound Washington, who equaled a school record with four touchdowns in a game.

With both teams gaining yardage in prolific fashion, Washington did the biggest damage with a one-yard plunge into the end zone with 1:53 to play to give the Corsairs (2-4, 2-3 in conference play) a 44-41 lead.

On the ensuing kickoff, the bottom fell out for Valley when Delvon Hardaway and Randolph Brown misfired on a reverse handoff and Santa Monica’s Kyron Motton recovered the loose ball at the Valley eight-yard line.

Leading, 21-16, at halftime, Valley (3-2-1, 3-2) appeared poised to break the game open in the second half after Mauldin brought the crowd to its feet with a dazzling 75-yard touchdown run on the third play of the second half to give the Monarchs a 28-16 lead.

Mauldin finished with 218 yards rushing in 12 carries and he passed for 166 yards, completing on 10 of 22.

But on its following three possessions Valley failed to hold on to the ball and the die-hard Corsairs capitalized on the first two turnovers to take a 31-28 lead after three quarters.

Washington keyed the Santa Monica comeback with touchdown runs of 10 and one yards in the third quarter and he added an eight-yard scoring run midway through the fourth quarter to give Santa Monica a 38-34 lead.

Valley countered with a Mauldin one-yard touchdown run with 3:55 left that was set up by a 20-yard reverse by Brown.

Blackwell, the conference’s leading scorer, finished with 143 yards in 27 carries and scored two touchdowns to increase his season total to 15.

In a wild first half that featured three touchdowns in the final 4 1/2 minutes, Valley took a precarious 21-16 advantage.

Santa Monica opened the scoring on the game’s opening series with a methodical 13-play drive that culminated in a Matt Hill 26-yard field goal. Washington carried the ball eight times for 63 yards on that drive alone.

Valley answered the call on its ensuing possession with a nine-play, 92-yard drive that ended when Mauldin hit a wide open Brandon Best with a 19-yard touchdown pass.