Green Valley’s Brenan Adams sprints into the end zone after a long run with Basic’s Jake Waldren diving at his heels a bit late for a stop, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014.
Friday, Oct. 3, 2014 | 12:45 a.m.
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#702hsfb Takeover
Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer relive Bishop Gorman prevailing over St. John Bosco in a battle between the two top-ranked teams in the nation before getting to the rest of an eventful week. Does Arbor View still have a case to be ranked above Liberty? Did Faith Lutheran really get into the end zone on its game-winning Hail Mary? Who would win: Coronado or Centennial? They debate all these topics and more.
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The Green Valley High football team was forced to punt Thursday after three plays on its first possession in the Henderson Bowl against host Basic.
The Gators, though, wouldn’t be stopped the rest of the night in a 42-32 victory for their fourth straight win in the series.
Basic was able to run more than five minutes off the clock on its first possession in taking a 3-0 lead on a Montana Gomez field goal. Albert Lake quickly erased the deficit, racing virtually untouched for a 65-yard touchdown to give Green Valley the lead for good.
Lake and Brenan Adams combined to rush for nearly 300 yards, and quarterback Christian Lopez completed 15 of 18 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns.
At times, it seemed as if Green Valley (4-1 overall, 1-0 Southeast) was going to score each time it had the ball.
“We came out really flat and didn’t do our jobs,” Lopez said of the first series. “We stuck to the game plan. The rest of the game we picked up our intensity.”
On Green Valley’s next three possessions, Lake scored on a 95-yard run, Adams scored from about 50 yards out and Lopez hooked up with Brayon Williams for a 20-yard touchdown pass for a 28-3 advantage.
Basic scored on the last play of the first half when John Funaki plunged in from 1 yard to trim the deficit to 18 points at halftime. But Green Valley opened the second half with a scoring drive, which was capped by another touchdown run from Adams.
“We have a pretty good 1-2 punch going on with (Adams and Lake) right now,” Green Valley coach Brian Castro said. “Albert plays a lot of football for us for on both sides of the ball. Brenan is able to come in and give him a break there when we need it and really produce.”
Basic didn’t fold, though. It’s a rivalry game, after all.
Basic outscored Green Valley 22-9 to close the game, including an impressive 83-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Josh Villaros. While the Basic offense did enough to earn a win, its defense had no answers for Green Valley’s balanced attack.
The schedule won’t get easier for Green Valley. Next week, it plays another rival in Coronado in a crucial Southeast League game.
The winner, you could easily argue, has an inside track at capturing the league title and grabbing home field advantage for the playoffs. Green Valley won nine games in 2013 and advanced to the Sunrise championship game, but it also lost to Coronado. And in the 2012 playoffs, Coronado eliminated Green Valley in the Sunset semifinals.
Green Valley player Nazhi Salih pretends to make a birthday cake in the Henderson Bowl trophy for teammates following their win over Basic 42-32 on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014.
“When you get into league play, it is really one week at a time,” Castro said.
And this week sure came with a familiar prize — retaining possession of the Henderson Bowl trophy. This was the 22nd game in the rivalry.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Castro said. “They work hard. They look forward to this game and it is important to them. They were fired up tonight and did a good job. They deserve this.”
Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21
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