Basic posts record-setting win in Henderson Bowl

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Friday, Oct. 16, 2009 | 2:10 a.m.

Basic High running back Edward Villaros knew he would be back to collect his football team’s most valuable possession.

The senior carried the Henderson Bowl trophy from the Wolves’ locker room to the field Thursday night minutes before Henderson Bowl XIX, the annual game between Basic and host Green Valley High.

He kissed the side of the bowl, placed it on a table underneath the scoreboard and jogged with confidence to the sideline for the start of game.

You see, Villaros had no doubt his team would be victorious.

Basic’s Tyler Dobbins had two first-half touchdown runs and the Wolves returned a pair of interceptions for touchdowns to score 41 unanswered points in a record-setting 41-14 win.

As the clocked counted down to zero, Villaros and his teammates enthusiastically raced to pick up the trophy. It was a moment Villaros had pictured in his mind for years — winning the Henderson Bowl during his senior season.

“I kissed it goodbye but was confident that was only temporary,” said Villaros, who led Basic with 71 rushing yards on 12 carries.

Green Valley still owns a 12-7 edge in the annual game, but the 27-point margin of victory Thursday was the largest in the series for Basic. It was also the second time the Wolves have won consecutive games.

“This is a team on the rise,” Dobbins said. “Green Valley is a good team and we beat them from the get-go.”

Green Valley (3-4) took an early 7-0 lead two minutes into the game when senior running back Treveece Jackson broke loose for a 64-yard scoring run.

But Basic scored the next 41 points, including interception returns for a touchdown three minutes apart. Blaze Galardy returned an interception 32 yards for a score and Kelly Armistead followed by scoring on a 57-yard return to give Basic a 27-7 lead with 2:05 to play in the second quarter.

“Two pick-6s. That right there killed us,” Green Valley coach Matt Gerber said.

Basic extended its advantage with a 3-yard touchdown run from Omar Valenzuela in the third quarter and second-string quarterback Vince Carducci added to the lead with a 10-yard scoring strike to Travis Tatiano for a 41-7 lead with 6:26 to play.

A reserve quarterback throwing a touchdown or taking a knee to run out the clock are actions usually reserved for Green Valley in the Henderson Bowl.

But Basic has shown the past two years that it is a different team. The Wolves easily could have folded after giving up the long touchdown run to open the game.

“We have changed the culture here a little bit,” second-year coach Jeff Cahill said. “We have faced a lot of adversity, especially in the last two weeks. Getting scored on wasn’t going to get us down.”

The margin of victory didn’t go unnoticed by Basic’s players. Villaros remembers looking at scores from past games on the side of the trophy earlier in the day and seeing one result standout — Green Valley 64, Basic 0 in 1994.

Now, he can claim to have been part of turning the tables.

“I saw that 64-0 and knew that wasn’t going to happen again,” Villaros said.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or [email protected].