Valley Finally Finds Right Combinations

Valley College’s offense came alive in a 41-24 victory at Santa Barbara on Saturday, giving the Monarchs hope of turning around their football season after a disastrous start.

“We seem to be running the ball better and throwing the ball better,” said Ron Ponciano, Valley’s assistant head coach. “It’s taken us three weeks to find the right combinations.”

The Monarchs finished with 449 yards, 21 fewer than they mustered in the first two games.

Valley takes a record of 1-2, 1-0 in Western State Conference Northern Division play, against Glendale (1-2, 0-1) on Saturday afternoon.

Ponciano hopes to continue the momentum and erase the memory of losses to Harbor, 33-26, and Grossmont, 35-10.

“It was totally Murphy’s Law what happened in the first two weeks,” Ponciano said.

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Mistakes continue to undermine Pierce’s football team.

“Sloppy, sloppy, oh my goodness,” Coach David Banuelos said. “If we can stop the mental errors, we can knock somebody off.”

The Brahmas (0-3, 0-1) broke down on defense in a 21-15 loss at Moorpark on Saturday, blowing pass coverage that led to two scores.

Quarterback Jamaal Washington has had four passes intercepted in each of the last two games. The last interception came in the end zone in the final minute.

“He’s not making the reads and that’s not him, “ Banuelos said.

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In losing to Grossmont, 59-26, in a Foothill Conference game on Saturday, Antelope Valley gave up the most points in a game since losing to Palo Verde, 66-0, in 1950.

The Marauders (1-2, 0-1), normally a run-oriented team, are throwing much more than in recent years.

They had 284 yards passing against Grossmont, including 212 by Cory Allred, and 216 against Canyons the previous week. The Marauders seldom pass for 200 yards, never mind in consecutive games.

In fact, the Marauders passed for 200 yards or more in consecutive games only once before, with 285 yards against Citrus and 216 against Victor Valley in 1992.

Antelope Valley’s game record is 335 yards passing in a 28-26 loss to Pierce in 1985.