Jags win big in ugly game at Del Norte

With another big game from its quarterback and a defensive performance that sent a message to the rest of the league, Valley Center’s varsity football team improved to 9–0 with a dominating 48–0 win at Del Norte on Friday night.
Senior quarterback Beau Reilly led the Jaguars with 15 completions in 23 attempts for 269 yards and three touchdowns through the air, and added seven carries for 66 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in the big win. His favorite target in the passing game was, for the second consecutive game, senior slot receiver David Last, who hauled in six receptions for 117 yards and two touchdowns.
On defense, the Jags posted their third shutout of the season, holding the Nighthawks to just 128 total yards on offense and taking away two turnovers in the game.
The Jaguars were without the services of electrifying running back Travis Bernard for most of the second half after he sustained a few minor injures that head coach Rob Gilster called nothing more than “a twisted ankle and a few cramps.” Still, the senior tailback ran the ball 19 times for 159 yards and a touchdown before giving way to the backups in the blowout.
Overall, however, Coach Gilster and the rest of the Jaguars seemed glad to just get the game over with. Del Norte High School opened in 2009 and is fielding a varsity football team for the first time this season, and Coach Gilster acknowledged the difficulty in a matchup like this.
“It’s kind of a bummer playing a team in its first season,” he said after the game. “But we didn’t prep well, and I keep telling these guys, we’re not that good to not prepare well. We just have to be disciplined, work hard, and do the right thing, every week.”
The tone of the game took an unfortunate turn early in the second half, when both teams got into a shoving match following a running play. Leading up to the tussle, the Valley Center sideline had been calling for penalties on what appeared to be late hits by some of the Del Norte defenders, including sophomore defensive back David Belcher. The tension boiled over after a second-down carry by Bernard, on which he was injured, tried to make it to the sideline, but went to the ground in pain. Some of the Del Norte players, led by Belcher, started cheering Bernard’s injury.
Words were exchanged between the players on the field and those on the Valley Center sideline, and the talking boiled over into a shoving match two plays later when Jaguar wide receiver John Watkins was blocking downfield and was hit after the whistle by Belcher. The shoving match turned into a scrum of players, but did not escalate any further. Three penalties were called on the play, one personal foul on Del Norte and two personal fouls on Valley Center.
Del Norte was penalized for a late hit on the next play after Reilly completed a pass to Last for a gain of 18 yards. Belcher laid a big hit on Last after he had already been dragged out of bounds to earn the penalty. But the late hits did not stop, according to the reactions on the Valley Center sideline and from the Jaguar fans in the stands, and yet no more personal foul penalties were called.
After the game, Coach Gilster had a somewhat-animated discussion with Del Norte head coach Jerry Ralph about some of the extra-curricular incidents on the field. As the discussion reached its conclusion, one of Del Norte’s assistant coaches had to be restrained by other members of the coaching staff as Gilster walked away, shaking his head.
“We’re just glad for it to be over with,” said senior tackle Stehly Reden after the game. “It was just ugly out there.”
The game started out well enough for the Jaguars, who started on defense and gave up a quick first down, but settled down and forced a punt after the next three plays.
The Jags took over on their own 37 and promptly marched 63 yards in six plays to score the game’s first touchdown on a 28-yard pass from Reilly down the seam to Jean-Marc Brierre.
Del Norte responded with its longest drive of the game, taking the Nighthawks into Jaguar territory at the 27 before a loss and a penalty for delay of game forced a punt from the 35.
After a touchback on the punt, Valley Center drove 80 yards in 12 plays, overcoming two costly penalties along the way. The first was a block in the back that wiped out a 14-yard run by Bernard, and the second was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on wideout Taylor Oshinski for flipping the ball at a defender after making a 12-yard reception.
To cap the drive, Bernard carried the ball five consecutive times to score on a six-yard run that gave the Jags a 14–0 lead with just over nine minutes left in the first half.
Three consecutive punts on the next three possessions gave the ball back to Valley Center at its own 43 late in the second quarter, but the Jaguars gave the ball back to the Nighthawks on a fumble on the second play of the drive. On the play, Reilly tried to pitch the ball back to Bernard on the option, but the ball sailed high and wide, and Bernard couldn’t get a handle on it.
With the ball on the Valley Center 40, the Nighthawks couldn’t take advantage of the outstanding field position and turned the ball over on downs when a fourth-down pass attempt slipped out of the quarterback’s hand for an incompletion.
The Jaguars made the most of the opportunity, driving 40 yards in six plays to score on a 17-yard pass down the seam to Last with only 39 seconds remaining before halftime.
To start the second half, the Jaguars embarked on another 12-play drive that included the first injury to Bernard, the pushing and shoving, and the Del Norte late hit penalty.
But instead of putting more points on the scoreboard, the Jags gave the ball away on another fumble. This time, Bernard was fighting to reach the goal line when the ball was knocked out and recovered by Del Norte in the endzone for a touchback.
The Jaguar defense, thoroughly called out by defensive coordinator Randy Cowell at halftime after a slow start, responded by dropping the Nighthawks for a loss on three consecutive plays to force a punt. On the kick, Bernard bobbled the fair catch, and in the process of recovering the ball, was injured once again. This time, he did not return.
He did manage to recover the ball at the Del Norte 48, and from there, the Jaguars needed only five plays to score again, this time on a one-yard quarterback sneak by Reilly.
Leading 28–0 with 1:37 left in the third quarter, the Jaguar defense came up with a big play on the ensuing drive when Last laid an obliterating shot on the Del Norte runner, causing a fumble that linebacker Martin Cunningham recovered at the Nighthawks’ 19-yard line.
Two plays later, the Jags were in the endzone again, this time on a play-action rollout pass from Reilly to Last, who fought his way in for a 17-yard touchdown reception with three seconds left in the third quarter.
Valley Center’s defense was firing on all cylinders in the second half, as the unit stepped up and got its second consecutive turnover on the ensuing possession. This time, the Jaguars gave up a first down on a personal foul penalty called on Reden for throwing the Nighthawk runner out of bounds at the end of the play. But the Jags recovered and forced a fourth-and-five conversion attempt from the Valley Center 35. The Nighthawks threw it deep, but cornerback Nico Carrasco made a leaping interception at the eight yard line to give the ball back to the offense.
The Jaguars capped a nine-play, 92-yard touchdown drive with a seven-yard quarterback run by Reilly, who hurdled over a defender at the goal line to get in for the score.
Leading by 42 late in the game, the Jaguars forced a three-and-out, but were pushed back to their own 40 after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on defensive tackle Dylan Smith for taunting a Del Norte player as the teams jogged off the field after the kick.
With Watkins in at quarterback, the Jags drove 60 yards in seven plays, capping the drive with a 35-yard pass down the seam to Reden, who put on the No. 88 jersey to play tight end for the final series.
“Coach told me that I was going to get a chance to make a play, and once I had it, I just wasn’t going to let them keep me out of the endzone,” he said after the game.
The Jaguars are currently third in CIF, in terms of team rushing yards, with 2,161, trailing Escondido Charter with 2,363 and Temescal Canyon with 2,171. Bernard leads the North County in rushing yards (1,855), rushing touchdowns (24) and rushing yards per game (206). Reilly is seventh in passing yards (1,160), tenth in passing touchdowns (9) and is tied for the second fewest interceptions (2).
Up next for the Jaguars is the regular season finale, which will be played at home on Friday night against rival Orange Glen. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.