SAN JOSE, CA - A packed house at Longhorn Stadium ushered in the Homecoming weekend with a BVAL-Mt Hamilton league-opening win against the Pioneer Mustangs, 21-0. The Longhorns defense stole the night, intercepting Jarrod Turner three times and recovering two fumbles.
“What a great game. (Coach) Lefieber said it best, it was the single greatest defensive game we have had,” said Leigh coach Kyle Padia. “The energy, attention to detail, everyone doing their job, kept them off the scoreboard. Great outing by the defense.”
After a scoreless first half, the Longhorns drove 60 yards to start the second quarter, ending with a four-yard rushing touchdown by Michael Brohn. The Longhorns defense then forced a fumble of Pioneer quarterback Jarrod Turner, putting Leigh (3-1, 1-0 BVAL-MH) on the Pioneer 39-yard line. Two plays later, Leland Ledger raced in from 17 yards out to put his team up 14-0 heading into intermission.
The second half was slow, but for the first time this season, Leigh was not outscored in the second half.
“It is still not good enough, we haven't scored in the third quarter all season, so we aren't happy with that,” Padia said. “We need to learn to close out games a little better than that offensively, but when your defense plays that well we do not really have to worry about it.”
With under five minutes to play in the game, with a 14-point cushion, Leigh’s punt put the Mustangs at their own five-yard line. As Turner rolled right, the Longhorn defensive line knocked it out of his hands and sophomore Anthony Nguyen recovered the ball in the end zone to seal the win.
“Jarrod is running for his life, so I am not going to put that on Jarrod. Our front five need to get a little bit better and protect our quarterback better They just beat us upfront. Their front seven beat our front seven up,” said Pioneer coach Eric Perry. “Our defense played well, I am proud of our defense. Offensively we kept shooting ourselves in the foot. Every time I thought we had something going we killed ourselves with penalties.”
The Longhorns hope to get another league win next week at Live Oak.
“We have our hands full with Live Oak next week,” Padia said. “If we stop the run like we did tonight than we will have a great chance.”
Pioneer (0-4, 0-1) will have another difficult game with the reigning CCS champs, Oak Grove, at home next week.
