California JUCO: LA Valley College Rolls Antelope Valley 45-27
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA
Los Angeles Valley College set the tone in the first quarter against Antelope Valley in a battle of 3-1 teams but used a big fourth quarter to pull away for a 45-27 win.
The Monarchs got on the board first off an Antoine Conner 49-yard breakaway run. LA Valley cornerback Eric Jenkins (Cincinnati commit) would stop a Marauders’ scoring drive picking off a pass while covering highly recruited Antelope Valley receiver Alex Byers. On the following possession true freshman running back Anthony Wyche broke free for a 63-yard run pushing the score to 14-0.
Nearing the end of the first quarter, AV quarterback Blake Shepherd broke loose on a 23-yard keeper cutting the score to 14-7. LA Valley would quickly respond with quarterback Patrick Tyler finding Mathew Boudreaux on a 48-yard touchdown strike. The Monarchs would push their advantage to 26-7 in the second quarter when Tyler found Christopher Ricks on a 16-yard play in the end zone.
Late in the third quarter, AV got a short field putting together a 5-play 22 yard scoring drive when quarterback Blake Shepherd ran in from 1-yard out to pull within 26-14.
The fourth quarter turned into a shootout with Wyche scoring on a 3-yard and on a 1-yard run. Antoine Connor added a late 27-yard touchdown run for the final score of the game.
Shepard led two drives in the fourth connecting with Carlon Smith on a 16-yard play and then on the following drive Edward Martin scored on an 8-yard run.
Valley overwhelmed on offense picking up 649 yards of offense to AV’s 327. The Monarchs’ got 336 yards on the ground with freshman Antoine Conner leading the way with 181 yards on 17 carries and Anthony Wyche adding another 117 yards on 14 totes. In the pocket, Patrick Tyler was efficient completing 13-of-19 passes for 313 yards with two touchdowns.
The story of the game was the Monarchs’ defense coming up with four Blake Shepherd interceptions. Shepherd ended the game 20-of-42 for 187 yards with one passing touchdown, four picks, and two rushing scores. He also led his team in rushing with 66 yards. Derek Denton was the Marauders’ leading receiver with six receptions for 60 yards. Alex Byers had four receptions for 44 yards.
LA Valley’s Chris Phillips had a game-high 152 yards receiving off four passes hauled in and Ricks added another 72 yards on four receptions with a score.
Michael Sewell led LA Valley with a game-high nine tackles followed by Chad Thornton’s five stops. Jenkins ended the game with four stops, a pick, and two pass breakups. Jonathan Charles and James Walton were credited with three stops each with Walton adding a 12-yard sack. Terrell Cloud and Dillon Knight were a force up front throughout the game coming up with two stops apiece and half a sack each.
Los Angeles Valley is on a bye and then returns to action on Oct. 17 to face the Santa Barbara Vaqueros on the road.
Photo credit: recruitingnewsguru.com; LA Valley breaks the huddle against Antelope Valley.