VALENCIA – “The message is the same every single week, ‘to be us, to be Viking football.
Valencia took those words from head coach Larry Muir to heart and beat Hart 38-7 on Friday night.
The game that was billed as a showdown between the two best teams in the Santa Clarita Valley turned into more of a coronation, as the Vikings led 31-0 at halftime and coasted to a win – a victory that earned them a third consecutive Foothill League title.
Valencia came out firing early as they forced a Hart three-and-out on the Hawks’ first possession of the game before senior quarterback Brady Bretthauer found receiver Elias Holloway for a 46-yard touchdown to give the Vikings a 7-0 lead with 7:21 remaining in the first quarter.
After Valencia’s defense forced a turnover on downs, running back Brian Bonner ran 77 yards for the touchdown, extending the lead to 14-0 with 3:39 remaining in the opening quarter.
Muir said Bretthauer and Bonner’s work off the field contributes to their success, leaving no doubt about where he sees the two in the area’s pecking order.
“There’s no question. You see what they do on the field. Regardless of any statistics… they’re the two best players in Santa Clarita, bar none,” he said. “There’s a lot of good football players out here, but those two guys are just special. They’re just on a different level.”
Bonner, a Washington commit who had three touchdowns on the night, said he’s keeping his thinking more on the short term as Valencia approaches the end of the regular season with the start of the playoffs looming.
“We just gotta keep going… like what our coach said we gotta be us,” Bonner said. “Keep doing what we’re doing, and you know, just looking forward to getting to the next game and getting to the playoffs, he said postgame.”
The defensive side of the ball came up big for the Vikings on Friday as they were able to contain an explosive Hart offense that had been averaging 48 points per game in league play heading into the matchup.
Symeon Wilkins made his presence felt chasing down Hart quarterback Jacob Paisano for a sack early on, Valencia’s defensive line held dynamic running back/receiver Matix Frithsmith in check.
Hart was able to break up the shutout with under a minute remaining in the game when receiver Joshua Wagner caught a 21-yard pass from Paisano in tight coverage.
Muir said he was pleased with Valencia’s defensive showing after the win.
“We worked hard at just being ourselves,” he said. “I think defensively we fight ourselves sometimes with penalties and things like that, but our effort and our intensity, I never doubt. Tonight I thought they played with a lot of effort and intensity and guys did a great job of swarming to the football.”
“I was just proud of all our guys and especially our seniors on both sides of the ball,” Muir added.
Valencia (8-1, 5-0 Foothill) heads into their season finale against a struggling Castaic team next week, but for the game at hand they definitely sent a message with the playoffs on the horizon.
“We believe other people practice to beat us,” Muir said after the game. “We practice to be us, and I think that’s a big difference. It’s a big difference of how we approach everything that we do.”