Valley Riddles Moorpark With Aerial Assault

Perhaps Valley College quarterback Jim Arellanes hadn’t heard that Moorpark had the top defense in the state.

Arellanes completed 29 of 51 passes for 379 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Monarchs to a 28-14 victory over Moorpark in a Western State Conference interdivisional game Saturday night at Valley.

The Monarchs (6-0, 6-0 in conference play), ranked No. 5 in the state, racked up 529 yards against a defense that went into the game allowing an average of only 152.5 yards.

It was a bitter defeat for Moorpark (3-2, 3-1), which last week upset Bakersfield, then ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 2 in the nation.

The Raiders had 316 yards on offense, including 147 passing by Damian Delfino and 103 rushing by Gary Clemons, but most of those yards were hard-earned.

Valley receiver Brian Comer, who caught touchdown passes of 14 and 82 yards, finished with 12 receptions for 225 yards. His second score came on a halfback option pass from Davis Delmatoff midway through the fourth quarter and sealed the victory.

Sophomore wide receiver Jason Leonard had three receptions for 101 yards and scored on a 26-yard pass from Arellanes in the third quarter that gave Valley a 21-7 lead.

It looked at first as if Moorpark was going to give the Valley defense a rough time.

The Raiders took the opening series of the game 62 yards in 13 plays and reached the end zone on a one-yard run by halfback Gary Clemons for a 7-0 lead. Clemons also scored the other Moorpark touchdown on a two-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

The Monarchs scored their first two touchdowns on exceptionally thrown passes by Arellanes in the second quarter.

The first was a 24-yard toss to receiver David Eastham with six minutes to play in the half. Arellanes rolled left, threw off balance and hit Eastham on the left corner of the end zone.

With nine seconds remaining before intermission and the ball on the Moorpark 14, Arellanes connected with Comer for a 14-7 advantage.