Roundup: Legacy’s DeShae Edwards rushes for four TDs

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Published Friday, Sept. 11, 2009 | 10:40 p.m.

Updated Friday, Sept. 11, 2009 | 11:45 p.m.

Legacy’s DeShae Edwards rushed for 235 yards and four touchdowns on 11 carries Friday night to lead the Longhorns to a 56-0 victory against visiting Mojave.

Edwards’ big night included a pair of 70-yard touchdown runs. Martell Crockett added a 60-yard touchdown run and Devin Wiedemann threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Chris Lyle.

Legacy, only in its fourth year of existence, improved to 3-0 with the victory, including 2-0 in the Northwest Division.

“The kids are buying into the program,” Legacy coach Dave Synder said. “We are looking forward to taking it to the next level.”

Del Sol's Dezerick Reed leads Dragons to 28-0 win against Rancho

Del Sol’s Dezerick Reed had a pair of touchdowns Friday night to lead the Dragons to a 28-0 victory against visiting Rancho.

Reed’s second touchdown was a 90-yard fumble return in the third quarter for the final points of the game. He also scored on a 3-yard run in the first half.

“He is our big play guy,” Del Sol coach Preston Goroff said. “The whole team rallies around him.”

Evan Weinstock also scored for Del Sol (2-0), catching a 40-yard touchdown pass from Troy Miller. Jason Meuir added a 50-yard punt return for a touchdown.

“It was sloppy. We had a lot of penalties and some drives stalled,” Goroff said. “We have a lot of work to do on offense.”

Rancho fell to 0-2.

Mora’s three touchdowns lift Durango over Desert Oasis

Durango’s Julio Mora had touchdown runs of 19, 3 and 4 yards in a 30-20 victory against visiting Desert Oasis.

Mike Mehling added a 31-yard touchdown on a reverse for Durango (2-1) and Anthony Ramirez kicked a 39-yard field goal.

“I’m happy we got the win, but I can’t imagine us playing any worse,” Durango coach Gary Maki said. “We just committed way too many penalties. It was probably our worst outing of the year and yet we still came out with a win.”

The biggest Desert Oasis (1-1) highlight came on special teams when the Diamondbacks executed a reverse on a kickoff return for a touchdown. Colin Maestas took the handoff and ran 78-yard for the score.

This was the first-ever Southwest Division league game for second-year Desert Oasis (1-1). It played an independent schedule last year in its inaugural season.

“We have to learn how to turn up the intensity for a league game,” Desert Oasis coach Faron Seibel said.

Spring Valley starts strong, beats Sierra Vista

Spring Valley’s Brandon Lopez scored on a 55-yard reverse to help the Grizzlies improve to 2-0 in the Southwest Division with a 35-14 victory against host Sierra Vista.

Spring Valley led 28-0 at halftime.

“We put a lot of emphasis of coming out strong in practice this week and it showed,” Spring Valley coach Kelly Murphy said. “We had four hard days of practice.”

Cheyenne wins on game’s final play

Cheyenne’s Xavian Johnson returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown on the game’s final play Friday to give the Desert Shields a dramatic 16-10 victory against visiting Shadow Ridge.

Johnson avoided being tackled by Shadow Ridge’s kicker around midfield and outraced the defense for the decisive touchdown.

“Once he passed the first level (of tacklers) I just put my hands in the air,” Cheyenne coach Perryn Hale said. “I knew he had it.”

Johnson’s heroics gave Cheyenne (1-2) its first win of the season after losing by lopsided scores in its first two games.

“It is very relieving to get that first win, especially being at a school like this with a tradition we have,” Hale said. “The kids weren’t used to the losing ways.”

Jordan Butler led Cheyenne with 128 rushing yards, including a 52-yard touchdown run.

Cheyenne has played in the last two Sunset Regional semifinals, but is in a rebuilding mode this fall with several inexperienced players. It is also Hale’s first year as coach.

“We went back to some of the things the kids were comfortable with,” Hale said. “We told the kids this was the start of season No. 2.”

Shadow Ridge fell to 0-2.

Liberty knocks out Chaparral 54-0

Liberty’s Ty Byrd had a pair of first half touchdown runs Friday night and the Patriots opened a 34-point halftime lead in a 54-0 victory against host Chaparral.

Byrd had scoring runs of 20 and 7 yards in the first half outburst and quarterback Samuel Tai added a 3-yard touchdown run and 11-yard scoring strike to Dylan Rogers with 23.3 seconds left in the half for a 34-0 halftime advantage.

Teu Tai added a 14-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and Samson Toalei had two of Liberty’s three first half interceptions.

The first half performance was exactly what Liberty (1-1) was striving for. The Patriots hung with Legacy in their season opener on Aug. 28, but had four interceptions in struggling to put points on the board once they got the ball inside Legacy’s 20-yard line.

Those struggles didn’t continue against Chaparral (0-2). Byrd’s first touchdown came on a fourth down play with 6:43 to play in the initial quarter and the Patriots continued to convert the rest of the evening.

“We knew from watching film that we were bigger than them up front,” Liberty coach Rich Muraco said. “We knew that if we limited our turnovers and used our size to our advantage, we’d wear them out.”

The Patriots didn’t let up in the second half, including a pair of touchdowns from freshman Niko Kapeli. Kapeli finished with 172 total yards — 89 rushing and 83 receiving.

Bishop Gorman blanks Pahrump Valley

Bishop Gorman’s Victor Belen scored on an 85-yard touchdown run on the Gaels’ third play from scrimmage Friday night and freshman quarterback Anu Solomonpassed for three touchdowns in a 50-0 victory against host Pahrump Valley.

“We were able to get a lot of kids some playing time,” Gorman coach Tony Sanchez said.

Solomon threw touchdowns to Xavier Grimble, Taylor Spencer and Ronald Lyles, while Belen had more than 100 yards rushing and nearly 100 yards receiving. Shaquille Powell also scored on a rushing touchdown.

Gorman (3-0) held Pahrump under 100 yards of offense in shutting out its second straight opponent.

Desert Pines cruises past Western

Eric Tuiloma and Noel Darden each had two touchdowns to lead Desert Pines to a 63-16 victory against host Western.

Chancellor Davis and Paul Bennett Jr. each added touchdowns for the Jaguars (2-1), who led 43-0 at halftime.

The victory comes one week after Desert Pines struggled in losing 25-6 to Basic.

“We didn’t put the ball on the ground today. That was the difference,” Desert Pines coach Paul Bennett Sr. said. “We just had to get better.”

Cimarron dominates Arbor View

Stephen Nixon had 12 carries for 95 yards and two touchdowns to lead host Cimarron-Memorial to a 35-7 victory against Arbor View.

Nixon’s 56-yard touchdown run gave in the third quarter gave the Spartans (2-0) a 21-0 lead.

The Spartans defense did the rest. Arbor View never advanced past Cimarron’s 30-yard line before senior DeMon Scurry’s 74-yard touchdown run late in the game.

Cimarron’s final score came on a fourth-down play when senior quarterback Kenneth Banks connected with senior receiver Timothy Hasson for 35 yards.

“I helped my team out by making big plays,” Nixon said. “That’s what I do.”

Centennial outlasts Faith Lutheran

Centennial’s Willie White had a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown in the game’s final minute to seal the Bulldogs 41-31 victory against Faith Lutheran.

Centennial (1-2) trailed 17-13 at halftime, but got second half touchdowns from Steven Wicker and Javanh Sanders in rallying. Wicker scored on an 80-yard screen pass from Chris Henderson, who passed for 210 yards.

“It’s seems like we have been playing catch-up all season,” Centennial coach George Baker said. “For some reason, we can’t get up for a game in the first half. But I’m real happy with how the kids hung in there.”

Centennial could not contain Faith Lutheran’s passing attack and receiver Don Pearson, who had 12 receiptions for 237 yards and two touchdowns.

“Faith Lutheran is a good team,” Baker said. “They will surprise some people. They played us tough.”

Faith Lutheran, which is in its first year of competing in the large-school classification, nearly recorded its first win of the season. In the end, however, they didn’t have the depth to match Centennial.

“We just ran out of gas,” Faith Lutheran coach Jake Kothe said.

“We showed we have a lot of good football players on this team. We just came up short.”

John Cartier had an 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown for Faith Lutheran.

Canyon Springs wins Cooper’s debut

Canyon Springs’ Devin Rimmey had touchdown runs of 42 and 54 yards Friday night to lead the host Pioneers to a 42-21 victory against Green Valley in their season opener.

It was the program’s first game under coach Hunkie Cooper, a former UNLV and Arena Football League great.