SAN JOSE - With Valley Christian leading 35-0 against Burlingame in the fourth quarter, coach Mike Machado wanted to give his backups a night to remember. And so, at Burlingame’s two-yard line, junior Raymond Vasquez got the call with his first carry of the game, plunging into the middle of the Burlingame defense and into the end zone for the final score of the game.
The smile on Machado's face showed the joy that Vasquez' touchdown brought to the entire team, and capped the Warriors' 41-0 over Burlingame in a CCS Open 3 quarterfinal playoff game.
From the start of the game, Valley Christian dominated every aspect - offense, defense, and special teams. After a quick defensive stop to open the game, Valley Christian drove down the field with the help of junior running backs Conner Edgar and Nikolas Trofort. The drive was capped off with a 10-yard touchdown run by senior Isaiah Rodriguez, making his presence known early in the game. Later in the first quarter, Valley Christian drove 40 yards to score another touchdown, this time by Edgar on a seven-yard scamper.
The beginning of the second quarter dug an even deeper hole for Burlingame, as the center erroneously snapped the ball when the quarterback, junior Carlo Lopiccolo, was not ready for the snap. Valley Christian recovered at Burlingame’s 15-yard line, and the miscommunication error turned to be costly, as it set up a 15-yard touchdown pass from senior Miles Kendrick to his go-to receiver, senior Anthony Flores. Later in the second quarter, it was Trofort’s turn to score for Valley Christian, as the junior charged into the end zone on a four-yard touchdown run. Trailing 28-0, Burlingame needed to answer on offense, but Valley Christian’s defense held, and got the ball back with 1:44 left in the half. The Warriors drove down the field to get into field goal range, but senior Bailey Schroeder’s kick was blocked by Burlingame, the team’s lone positive in the game to that point.
Trailing 28-0 at half, Burlingame used their halftime break to think of some trickery to try to get back into the game. Trick plays are not the easiest to execute, but Burlingame executed it with perfection, opening the second half with an onside kick, and recovering at the VC 48-yard line.
But Valley Christian stole that momentum right back, forcing a four-and-out. Burlingame’s promising field position to start the second half turned out to be a mirage, as their drive only went for eight net yards. Valley Christian took over, and drove 60 yards to score another touchdown. The touchdown play seemed to be broken from the start, as the Burlingame defensive line broke through to force Kendrick out of the pocket, but he channeled his inner Russell Wilson, and scrambled behind the line of scrimmage for a good 10 seconds, evading defenders left and right, and finally threw up a beautiful 20-yard touch pass to Flores, who was wide open in the end zone. The incredible play increased Valley Christian’s lead to 35-0.
The Warriors pounded the rock with a running back committee of Rodriguez and Trofort. Rodriguez was the more effective back, with 10 carries for 141 yards, but Trofort showed elusiveness on his side, with 9 carries for 47 yards. The dominating run game for Valley Christian set up the passing game, with many play-action passes for Kendrick to his top receiver Flores, who ended the game with five catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns.
Burlingame’s offense was shut down the whole night by the stifling Valley Christian defense. Early in the game, Burlingame tried to establish their run game, but the team was held to just 55 rushing yards on the night. The passing game was not working for Burlingame as well, as Valley Christian held Burlingame to just 20 passing yards, an astonishing feat. Burlingame came into this game averaging 368.8 yards per game, and the Valley Christian defense did not allow the unit to even reach 100 on the game.
Valley Christian head coach Mike Machado was impressed in his team’s effort, but is already looking forward to preparing for the team’s next playoff game.
“Aptos is a good football team. We know that, so we’re going to work to get better, like we always do. It’s about our standards, and nobody else’s. So that’s what we tell the boys, that we’re not worried about what’s on the other sideline so much as we’re worried about what’s on ours, and what we’re going to do, and how we’re going to compete.” Coach Machado said, referring to an upcoming game with the Mariners, who downed Aragon on Friday night. “We’re going to get prepared to give the best showing that we can.”
Flores, who scored two touchdowns in the game, was proud of his teammates’ work ethic after Valley Christian’s first playoff win of the season.
“This one means a lot. Every week, week-to-week, we prepare for the teams we got up next, and it’s just a great win," Flores said. "Everybody played to the whistle. It was just a great win for our program.”
