Glendale’s Late Rally Thwarted by Valley : JC football: Monarchs jump out to 21-point lead, but the state’s top-ranked team is nearly caught in second half before beating Vaqueros, 48-35.

Nothing like a little dose of reality to shake up a team.

Valley College got a taste of that in a 48-35 victory over Glendale in a Western State Conference interdivisional matchup Saturday at Glendale High in a game the Monarchs threatened to turn into a rout.

The Monarchs (4-0, 3-0 in conference play), ranked No. 1 in the state with El Camino and coming off a 33-30 upset of Bakersfield last week, jumped to a 21-0 lead after one quarter but almost let the game slip away.

“Probably the worst thing we could do was run down the field and score every time we had the ball [in the first quarter],” Valley Coach Jim Fenwick said.

The Monarchs scored on their first five possessions and led, 31-14, at halftime before Glendale (1-3, 1-1) rallied.

Valley jumped ahead, 7-0, on a seven-yard run by Elijah Raphael on the game’s opening drive and made it 14-0 on a 58-yard run by Marcus Harvey on his first carry of the game.

Quarterback Aaron Flowers and receiver Cameron Perry combined on a four-yard scoring play late in the quarter to increase the lead to 21-0.

Harvey, who began the game as the conference’s second-leading rusher with 265 yards, finished with 139 yards in 15 carries and three touchdowns. He also scored on runs of one and 10 yards, the last with 5:45 to play and the Monarchs clinging to a 38-35 lead.

“I was shocked that they ran so well,” Glendale Coach John Cicuto said. “That’s what makes them a much better team than last year.”

The Monarchs rushed for 254 yards, and Flowers completed 29 of 43 passes for 244 yards. Glendale had 486 yards, including 410 yards passing from freshmen Aryan Hart (23 of 39 for 283 yards) and Greg Marquez (10 of 15 for 127 yards).

Five Vaqueros each finished with 40 or more yards receiving, including Patrick Fields (seven catches for 82 yards) and Kefvon Baker (five for 78 yards).

Hart, from Alhambra High, sparked the Vaqueros in the second half.

He connected with receiver Steve Leslie on a 17-yard pass play early in the third quarter to pull Glendale within 31-21. They teamed less than a minute later on a two-yard scoring pass with Leslie making a diving catch to close the deficit to 31-28. Leslie had three receptions for 31 yards.

Raphael, who rushed for 76 yards in 12 carries, set up the second Leslie score when he fumbled at the Valley 28 and linebacker Neal Sowter recovered.

After Harvey’s one-yard touchdown run with 16 seconds left in the third quarter put Valley ahead, 38-28, the Vaqueros answered with a one-yard run by Glenn Vigil to pull within 38-35. Harvey then came up with his 10-yard scoring run.

Valley’s Jose Cortez added a 31-yard field goal.

“We started to substitute in and out and that got us out of our rhythm,” Fenwick said. “We were thinking, ‘Don’t beat ourselves.’ ”