As the sun set over the beautiful skyway campus, the Valley Christian Warriors and Milpitas Trojans met under the Friday night lights.
Although Milpitas had dominated previous opponents, the Warriors proved too imposing, downing the Trojans 54-22.
The Warriors seized an early lead as Ryan Severson broke multiple tackles up the middle for a 55-yard touchdown on the Warriors opening drive.
“We had a bye week,” said Severson. “So we had an extra week to prepare and that’s what led us to success.”
The Warriors defensive line remained stout bringing down Trojan back CJ Reyes in the backfield and senior defensive lineman Cody Campbell came with the blitz and sack on quarterback Ronnie Reed.
The Warriors quickly returned to offense where the Trojans had no answer for the double-tight end offense and Kirk Johnson spun past defenders up the middle for the second Warrior touchdown.
The Warrior defense would return the favor with linebackers Jesse Osuna and Nick Havstad on quick tackles and this time the sack coming from junior defensive end Jonah Moore.
Quarterback Jay MacIntyre returned from his concussion and led the Warriors, finding wide receiver Brandon Alexander up the sideline for a 49-yard gain on his first attempt since returning as the Warrior QB.
“It felt good coming back and getting a win tonight,” said MacIntyre. “I’m glad we got through a game without any serious injuries.”
Severson then scored from 13 yards out and Valley Christian led 20-0 after one quarter.
In the second quarter the Trojans began to pick up some momentum, with quarterback Ronnie Reed finding his rhythm with his receivers. Reed had two key completions to receiver David Kruskamp which led to the first Trojan touchdown from Brandon Sualua.
“The adrenaline took over and I had my boys to get my back,” said Reed. “ We had to play together and play as a team.”
The Warriors (2-1) responded with Severson flying up the sideline with just a step on his defender and MacIntyre finding him for gain of 60. Johnson scored shortly thereafter as he dragged several would-be tacklers into the end zone.
The Trojans continued to march up the field and Sualua fought his way to the end zone for the second consecutive Trojan touchdown.
Then right before the end of the half, Milpitas' Ryan McKenzie picked up a fumble and ran it in for the score to make it 27-19.
“We started playing our way -- Trojan football," Milpitas coach Kelly King said. “We did some good things and some not so good things. It was the first night we really showed our youth, so we’re going to get better.”
It looked like it would be a close game, but Severson came through strong for the Warriors in the third quarter with a 62-yard touchdown run and a 64-yard reception on a screen pass from MacIntyre to make it 40-22.
The Warrior defense shut out Milpitas the rest of the way. Osuna was big on defense for the warriors with nine solo tackles contributing to his total (12) for the night.
“We knew we had to tighten down on defense in the second half,” said Osuna. “We had to put the same intensity of pressure on the quarterback like we did early.”
“It’s our last non-conference game, so it’s a game we need to win going into league,” said Warrior coach Mike Machado. “Our league has no byes, no shortcomings, it certainly isn’t easy, so it’s nice to be able to put 54 points on the board and hold a good offensive team like Milpitas to 22.”
