Green Valley puts game away in first half

By Sean Ammerman (contact)

Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008 | 12:15 a.m.

Green Valley High trotted into its locker room with high spirits at halftime of Friday night's Sunrise Regional quarterfinals game against Desert Pines.

Quarterback Nick Libonati had just capped off a near-perfect Green Valley first half with two touchdown passes in the final three minutes to give his team a comfortable 32-0 lead.

Green Valley felt so comfortable in the second half it didn't get a first down for the rest of the game.

It didn't matter, as Green Valley cruised to a 32-12 win to advance to a semifinals matchup with Las Vegas High — 52-20 winners against Foothill in the other Sunrise Region quarterfinal.

"I'm happy with the win but I'm upset with the second half," Libonati said. "We didn't have that killer instinct we wanted to have. Against Las Vegas, we're going to have to play four quarters of intense football."

The win was Green Valley's first playoff victory in 11 years.

"We came in and executed in the first half," Green Valley running back Quincy Bagsby said. "It felt pretty good to know we were a part of history."

Green Valley started off aggressive in its first drive, going 67 yards in less than four minutes.

Bagsby finished the 10-play drive with a 9-yard touchdown.

Desert Pines experienced a stroke of bad luck when quarterback Dalton Leilua was taken out of the game with a sprained ankle on his third play. Desert Pines went through four quarterbacks by the end of the game.

"They just took advantage of our mistakes," Desert Pines coach Paul Bennett said. "When Dalton went down, their confidence went down. That was the worst first half of our season."

Leilua fumbled on the play and Green Valley defensive lineman Donovan Bosque picked the ball up on Desert Pines' 14 yard line.

Green Valley's Nolan Kohorst booted a 33-yard field goal four plays later.

Three minutes into the second quarter, Green Valley defensive back Dallas Halasz returned a fumble for a 31-yard touchdown.

A Desert Pines turnover on downs led to a 25-yard touchdown pass from Libonati to Skylar Holloway with 2:53 remaining in the half.

Libonati added another touchdown about a minute later when he found Holloway in the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown reception.

"We came out hoping to establish our passing game," said Libonati, who finished with eight completions for 92 yards, an interception and two touchdowns. "They gave us the defense we were expecting to see and I think we did pretty well."

Desert Pines got a boost in the second half as Paul Bennett Jr., son of coach Bennett, settled into the role of replacement quarterback.

He finished with 10 completions for 90 yards, an interception and a touchdown in the third quarter.

Desert Pines running back Dennis Scott added a final touchdown off a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Green Valley had minus 3 yards on offense in the second half.

Green Valley coach Matt Gerber said his team can't afford a lackluster second half against Las Vegas, winners of the last five Sunrise Region championships.

"I keep telling our guys that one of these days we're going to put together a full 42-minute performance," Gerber said. "Let's just hope its next week, because we're going to need it."

Sean Ammerman can be reached at 990-2661 or sean.ammerman@hbcpub.com.