VC QB Daniel DeLeon threw for three touchdowns and ran in another to lead the Jags to a win over Mar Vista. |
By Dan Kidder
Despite a somewhat shaky first half, the Valley Center
varsity football team did what it has historically done—played much better in
the second half—to pull out a 40–14 win at Mar Vista on Friday night to open
the 2014 regular season.
The Jaguars gave up a pair of big plays—an 80-yard touchdown
pass and a fake punt run that gained nearly 40 yards on Mar Vista’s final drive
of the first half—that led to a 14–7 deficit at halftime.
But the Valley Center defense responded by shutting the
Mariners out in the second half, while senior quarterback Daniel DeLeon led the
offense on five touchdown drives to turn the halftime deficit into a blowout of
a final score.
“It’s a good start for us,” DeLeon said after the game. “If
we run the ball well, we can pass well, so I give all the credit to the
offensive line for giving me the time to do what I wanted to do out there. We
still need to work on a few things; for me, I think I was too quick to react to
the pressure and I ended up throwing the ball out of the endzone a couple
times. And when I make a decision to run, I think I need to actually run
instead of looking for one more chance to throw. But we’re just focusing on one
game at a time, so now it’s on to Brawley.”
DeLeon threw three touchdowns and ran for one more while
racking up 285 yards through the air on 16 completions. The receiving trio of
Jared Gilster, Josh Lucas and Jake Newman were the main targets of the night,
as each one hauled in a touchdown. Newman led the team with 92 receiving yards,
while Lucas racked up 80 yards and Gilster had 78.