Offense on display when Panthers host Mountain Valley

Mountain Valley senior Isiah Wellman (22) slips a tackle during Mountain Valley's game against Sierra Grande . Wellman was a machine on Friday afternoon cranking out touchdowns on seemingly every carry.(Courier picture by Stephen Jiron)

BLANCA — The sun showed no signs of the onset of autumn on John Roybal Jr. Field Friday afternoon. On the final day of summer Mountain Valley traveled south to face Sierra Grande and took a 63-33 victory.

Mountain Valley (3-0-0) is off to a hot start picking up wins in their last three games. Not only that but Mountain Valley has been winning big. Counting this week’s victory over Sierra Grande, Mountain Valley averages a 28 point margin of victory.

Last season the Panthers (2-2) got six wins and advanced to the 6-Man State playoffs. Though they fell in Round 1 to Northpark they came into this season with high expectations. Thus far the ride has been less than smooth with up-and-down play leading to a .500 record.

The first quarter crawled by with all the scoring.  Mountain Valley used a steady dose of Isiah Wellman to wear the Panthers down.  Early in the first the Mountain Valley senior scored a touchdown to close the gap to 13-12 in Sierra Grande’s favor.

The Panthers utilized sophomore Caleb Scharsch’s elusiveness to generate their offense. The following possession Scharsch reopened the gap with a 45-yard rush for a touchdown to give the Panthers a 19-12 lead. Mountain Valley answered right back with a Salvador Vigil to David Hammel connection that spanned 39 yards capped by an extra point to tie things at 19 all.

From there Mountain Valley took absolute control of the game. Mountain Valley’s next drive would start at their own 34 yard line. Rushes from Elijah Robert and Parker Larimore would cover 12 yards leading to Wellman ripping a 34 yarder off the right side for the go ahead score.

A fumbled Sierra Grande handoff would wind up in Robert’s hands giving Mountain Valley the ball at the Panther 14. One play later it was Robert rumbling in from 14 yards out to make it 31-19.

Two drives later Mountain Valley was pinned back at their own 4 yard line.  Wellman gave Mountain Valley a little breathing room by picking up 5 yards to the nine. Then he made it look automatic taking the next handoff 71 yards to paydirt, the PAT giving Mountain Valley a 19-point advantage. Everything was clicking for the visitors. Sierra Grande got a drive rolling and looked to be within striking distance when Mountain Valley’s David Hammel picked off a pass and made a house call from about 70 yards out. The score made it a 50-19 game with time remaining in the first half.

On the first play of the final possession of the half Sierra Grande found themselves on their on 30 with 20 seconds to play. Scharsch got loose and took it the distance, the Panthers would go to the half down 50-26. The next two scores came from Mountain Valley’s Wellman one long distance, and the other from a yard out putting the game further out of reach at 63-26. Sierra Grande got the last word when Abel Ojeda connected with Ambrosio Mondragon to finalize the score at 63-33.
Sierra Grande will try to bounce back next week against Cripple Creek-Victor on Sept. 29.