The Morgan Hill Pee Wee Raiders ran into a familiar road block
Sunday against the West Valley Falcons.
Pee Wees
The Morgan Hill Pee Wee Raiders ran into a familiar road block Sunday against the West Valley Falcons.
West Valley, which beat Morgan Hill in last year’s championship game 6-2, again knocked off the Raiders, winning 20-6 in a game that was closer than the score indicated.
Three big touchdown runs of 45, 50, and 75 yards accounted for 170 of the Falcons 225 yards of offense in a game where the Raiders could only muster one score.
The Raiders passing game was strong, going six of 13 for 72 yards, but stumbled late in the game with two crucial drops and an interception. Morgan Hill ran for 80 yards from scrimmage.
West Valley scored first with 6:57 left in the first quarter on a 45-yard burst but the extra point was blocked.
Morgan Hill waited until the 3:16 mark of the third to punch it in to tie, but also missed the extra point.
With the score tied 6-6, another big run on the Falcons next possession put them in front for good and they converted the kick to make it at 14-6. With the Raiders driving from the Falcons 36-yard line midway through the fourth, the Raiders went deep, but the under thrown ball was picked off at the 7-yard line. Needing a stop deep in the Falcons territory, West Valley purged itself with two big third down conversions and finally romped off a 74-yard touchdown.
Tyler Lerma was the work horse, gaining 58 yards on 16 carries. Anthony Villarreal was showed great poise in the pocket, airing it out for 72 yards on 13 attempts and scored the lone touchdown on a quarterback sneak. Hunter Sutton ran a fake reverse for 18 yards to set up the score.
Other than the three big plays, the defense played well enough to beat most teams.
Junior Pee Wees
The Morgan Hill Raiders Junior Pee Wees put together a strong performance to beat West Valley 12-0.
Drew Glines led the way with 73 yards on 17 carries and scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter to give Morgan Hill the only points it would end up needing.
Nathaniel Batad set up the touchdown with a 31-yard punt return to the West Valley 14-yard line.
Near the end of the second quarter, Morgan Hill’s Dalton Craig recorded a sack to stop a Falcon drive and they never recovered.
The Raiders put the game away late in the third quarter with a long eight minute drive. They recorded five first downs and moved 62 yards before Daniel Dunham scored from two yards out. Dunham finished with 44 yards on 15 carries and Trevor Beardon added 41 yards on six carries.
West Valley was still looking to get back into the game in the fourth when Alex Della Maggiore made a supurb open field tackle. Three plays later, he tipped away a pass for force a fourth-and-10 situation, when the Falcons failed to convert and that sealed the game for Morgan Hill.
Midgets
The Morgan Hill Raider Midget team is not big in size, but plays with heart. Given the size of the team, almost every player plays the majority of the game on offense and defense.
In their season-opener last Saturday against Oak Grove, they fought to the end before falling 8-6.
The game started like with adrenaline and excitement and the Raiders controlled the ball for much of the first quarter.
Oak Grove got inside the Morgan Hill 10-yard line but the Raiders defended, holding Oak Grove scoreless and recoverive a fumble at the end of the quarter.
Oak Grove took an 8-0 lead in the second quarter on a punt return for touchdown, but that would be it.
The ball went back and forth in the third quarter with several fumbles and both teams showed to be fatigued in the fourth quarter.
But the conditioning of the Raiders showed up and they scored on a fumble recovery. Morgan HIll couldn’t convert the extra point and Oak Grove earned the win.
