Boulder City hoping to avenge last season’s loss to Virgin Valley

By Brent Hinckley

Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008 | midnight

Boulder City High's football team hosts Virgin Valley at 7 p.m. on Oct. 17 for its homecoming game at Bruce Eaton Field.

“Playing at home is always better. The crowd is yelling and cheering for you instead of the other team,” Boulder City receiver Joey westernsaid.

Virgin Valley ended Boulder City’s season last year with a 42-24 win in the first round of the 3A Southern League playoffs.

“It feels like this is our chance to get back at them,” Boulder City junior linebacker Steven Kaposta said.

Virgin Valley (6-1, 1-0), which has won its last four games, is again one of the four-team league’s top programs.

“They’ve been taking care of business up there, and we have to be ready,” Boulder City coach Alex Kazel said. “Virgin is a hard-nosed football team. They are not going to be soft.”

When Boulder City lost its league opener to Moapa Valley on Sept. 26, Kazel said the team needed to be more physical. He saw that in a 23-13 win against San Diego’s La Jolla Country Day on Oct. 10.

“We still need to be more physical, but we took a good step toward it,” Kazel said. “That was a good, hard physical football game that was fun to watch.”

Senior running backs Spencer Sasarita and Chris Leach each rushed for a touchdown in the first half. Sasarita finished with a team-high 66 rushing yards.

La Jolla scored first on its opening drive, but it would be its only score in the first half.

“We always come up with a stop. It may not look like it’s going to happen, but we come up with it,” Kaposta said.

Kaposta recorded 14 tackles, one sack and blocked an extra point in the fourth quarter.

Boulder City (4-2, 0-1) answered with Leach’s 1-yard touchdown run and the 2-point conversion to lead 8-7 after the first quarter.

“We were a little slow to start, but we turned it around quick,” Kazel said. “It’d be nice to play from in front the whole time, but if we get behind these guys keep playing.”

In the second quarter, Sasarita scored on a 4-yard run and kicker Jake Phillips added a 20 yard field goal as Boulder City led 17-7 at halftime.

La Jolla scored a touchdown in the third quarter to get within four points, but Boulder city pulled away when senior running back Jeremy Smith caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Ryan Washburn in the fourth quarter.

Washburn and Phillips, who is also a quarterback, combined to complete 13 of 20 passes for 163 yards. Western had eight catches for 83 yards for Boulder City.

“It was nice to go down to San Diego to play,” Western said. “Winning made the weekend even better.”

Brent Hinckley can be reached at 990-7822 or brent.hinckley@hbcpub.com.