Willow Glen took control of a competitive game late, pulling away for a 42-26 victory against Independence.
Ram quarterback Matthew Toscano led the way, throwing for more than 160 yards, running for more than 200 and scoring three touchdowns on the ground.
"Each week is a battle," said Independence coach Norm Brown. "We came in at halftime basically 14-all, so we had to make some adjustments. We did a really good job in the first half containing (Toscano), and moving the ball offensively. We did have a little too many penalties, and that kind of affected our drives."
It was the third loss in a row for Independence, which dropped to 3-3 overall (0-3 in BVAL-Mount Hamilton), while the Rams improved to 3-3 overall (1-2).
The game began with an 80-yard touchdown run by Independence running back Jojo Valenzuela with 8:41 left in the first quarter. The Rams rebounded with a score of their own on a 68-yard pass from Toscano to Jayson Kadlecek.
Another Ram TD, a 10-yard TD run by Hakeem Mays, put Willow Glen ahead 14-7 with 10:21 left in the second quarter.
The 76ers tied the game again with a 79-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Khari Vanderbilt.
Independence nudged ahead 20-14 with a long touchdown pass from Thouet Tuy to Jojo Valenzuela, but Willow Glen then scored four consecutive times to blow the game open. Included were TD runs of 33 and 7 yards by Toscano.
Despite the victory, the Rams think they have room for improvement.
"Honestly we're still making a lot of mistakes and making it very tough on ourselves," Willow Glen coach Oscar Caballero said. "It was nice to get a win tonight but we still (have) a lot of work to do."
Said Brown: "(Toscano) did a great job and they deserved to win."
