The Valley Center Jaguars are on the rise in the rankings after another big win this week.
The Jags traveled to Mt. Carmel on Friday night and ran all over the Sundevils for a 41–8 victory that launched them to the No. 1 rank in Division IV of the CIF San Diego Section, No. 4 in the entire section into the top 100 nationally, according to the Web site www.valleycenterjaguars.com/football/
Meanwhile, MaxPreps.com has the Jaguars ranked at No. 4 in the section and No. 22 in the state, with two games remaining in the regular season.
“We don’t want to get big-headed,” said senior tailback Travis Bernard after the big win. “We have to keep our eyes on the prize, and that’s winning a [CIF] championship. We have to stay disciplined, get in the film room, and get ready for Del Norte [in two weeks].”
Bernard certainly would be excused for showing a little bit of pride in his effort on Friday, as he carried the ball 26 times for 336 yards and three touchdowns. By halftime, the explosive runner had already amassed 185 yards and scored twice, but after the game, he gave all the credit to the rest of the team.
“Our blocking was great tonight,” he said. “We put in a lot of hard work in practice, and we listened to our coaches. I was able to read the blocks, find the hole and make my cuts, and it worked all night.”
The success of the Jaguars’ passing game certainly helped soften the defense for Bernard, as senior quarterback Beau Reilly completed ten of 13 passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns in the game.
“We’re starting to hit our stride on offense,” head coach Rob Gilster said. “We run the ball well every week, but Beau just keeps getting better and better. There’s still room for improvement, obviously, but I think this was his best game so far this season.”
Reilly’s favorite target of the night was David Last, the multi-faceted senior kicker, cornerback and slot receiver who hauled in six receptions for 104 yards and two touchdowns, kicked five extra points, sent five of his seven kickoffs into the endzone for touchbacks, and picked off a Mt. Carmel pass at the end of the game.
“Our defense is on fire right now,” he said after the game. “[On the touchdown receptions] the guy on me went inside, so I cut outside and Beau threw a perfect pass. It felt great to get a win, but we’re not thinking that far ahead. We have to keep taking it one week at a time.”
The Jaguars held Mt. Carmel scoreless until early in the fourth quarter, when the Sundevils finally broke a few long runs and converted an 11-yard touchdown. But the Jags sacked the Mt. Carmel quarterback three times, including two sacks by defensive end Kenny Thomas, and one by defensive tackle Zach Blanco. The Jags also got a takeaway on Last’s interception and the unit stopped the Sundevils on a pair of fourth-down conversion attempts in the game.
Valley Center’s defense got to start the game and after allowing a quick first down, the Jags held on the next three plays and forced a punt.
The Jaguar offense came out and did something it has only done one other time this season—score a touchdown on its first possession of the game, which it did last week against San Marcos.
This week, the Jags took over on their own nine yard line and marched 91 yards on nine plays to score a touchdown. On the drive, the Jaguars overcame two penalties that led to a second-and-19 situation, then converted a fourth-and-three play on a pass to tight end Jean-Marc Brierre. But the score came on the first of Reilly’s perfectly-placed corner passes to Last, who faked a post route before slicing back to the front corner of the endzone to haul in the touchdown pass.
Leading by seven with just over five minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Jaguars forced another punt on Mt. Carmel’s next drive, and looked to be headed for another blowout first half like the one last week against San Marcos.
On Valley Center’s ensuing possession, Bernard ripped off a 38-yard run on first down. But on second down, the normally sure-handed running back ran into one of his blockers on a run up the middle, and the ball squirted free. Mt. Carmel recovered at its own 16, looking to take advantage of the swing in momentum.
The Sundevils picked up two quick first downs, but the drive stalled when Blanco got his sack on first down, linebacker Shonta Chaloux forced an incomplete pass on second down, and a short run on third down led to another punt.
The short punt, combined with a penalty on the Sundevils for a chop block, gave Valley Center possession at the Mt. Carmel 47.
From there, the Jaguars didn’t waste any time getting another score, as the drove 53 yards in just three plays to go up by 14. Bernard got his first touchdown on a 12-yard run with just over nine minutes left in the first half.
But the Sundevils weren’t going to roll over, and they responded with a big play to begin the ensuing drive. After another touchback on the kickoff, Mt. Carmel picked up 56 yards on first down on a quarterback keeper from the shotgun formation. Backed up at its own 24, the Jaguar defense responded, however, and held Mt. Carmel to an incompletion and two plays for a loss on the next three plays. Thomas picked up his first sack of the game on third down, setting up a fourth-and-22 situation for the Sundevils. They went for it, but a long pass down the sideline fell incomplete, and the Jaguars took over at their own 37.
Once again, the Jags drove down for a touchdown, this time covering the 63 yards in seven plays. Bernard scored again, this time on a fourth-and-three conversion attempt that he broke for a 40-yard touchdown. On the run, Bernard kept his legs pumping, ran through an arm tackle, and cut to the sideline, where he outran the safety to the goal line.
The teams traded punts, and on Mt. Carmel’s final possession of the half, Thomas and Martin Cunningham combined to drop the Sundevil runner for a three-yard loss that ran out the clock.
Leading by 21 at the break, Valley Center kept the pressure on in the third quarter and put together another touchdown drive on the first possession of the second half.
The Jaguars recovered a bouncing kickoff at their own 12, then drove 88 yards in just five plays for another touchdown. After the first two plays resulted in a first down at the Valley Center 35, Reilly hit Last on a hitch route that turned into a 21-yard catch and run. Two flags on the play—one on Valley Center for holding, the other on Mt. Carmel for a late hit out of bounds—resulted in a first down for the Jags at the Mt. Carmel 46. On the next play, Bernard turned on the jets on a run up the middle, but got dragged down at the four yard line. From there, Bernard took the handoff and walked into the endzone to put the Jags up 28–0 with just under 11 minutes left in the third quarter.
The Jaguars held Mt. Carmel to a three-and-out on the ensuing drive, leading to a ten-play, 73-yard touchdown drive. The Jags converted on a fourth-and-one attempt, setting up another pass from Reilly to Last, this one for a 24-yard touchdown. Last once again beat his defender with an inside-to-outside move, but had to out-leap the defense for the ball. He held on to the ball, but landed square on the upper part of his back, which he later said simply knocked the wind out of him. But because he was attended to by the training staff on the field, he was required to sit out at least one play before returning, which left the Jaguars without a kicker for the extra-point try. The Jags chose to go for the two-point conversion, but Reilly couldn’t find an open receiver and his pass fell incomplete, making the score 34–0 with just over six minutes left in the third quarter.
Mt. Carmel went backwards on the ensuing drive, losing five yards on first down, dropping a pass on a trick play on second down, then losing five more yards on a formation penalty before losing seven yards on a reverse on third down.
Punting out of their own endzone, the Sundevils could only get the kick to the Mt. Carmel 34, and the Jags made the most of the great field position right away. On the first play of the drive, Reilly ran the option to his right, faked the pitch back to Bernard, escaped a tackle and outran the defense down the sideline for a 34-yard touchdown.
Mt. Carmel put together its lone scoring drive of the game on the next possession, going 80 yards in 11 plays to score on an 11-yard run by the quarterback. On the extra point attempt, the Sundevils tried to kick it for one point, but the holder bobbled the snap, picked it up and ran it in for two.
The final 11 minutes of the game played out without a score, as Valley Center held on fourth down after Mt. Carmel successfully recovered an onside kick. The Jaguars ran six more plays on offense, all rushing plays, and Mt. Carmel turned the ball over on an interception to bring about the end of the game.
“We always seem to get out to a slow start,” Gilster said. “It’s just one of those things where we can’t duplicate the other team’s speed and athleticism in practice. But Randy Cowell, our defensive coordinator, does a great job. He knows how to find the tendencies in the opposing offenses, and he gets kids to buy in to what we’re doing as a team.”
The Jaguars are now 8–0 and have two weeks to prepare for the next game, which is on Nov. 5 at Del Norte. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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