SAN JOSE — After suffering back-to-back losses to end its regular season, the Valley Christian High football team couldn’t wait for the playoffs to get started.
After losing to Bellarmine and Serra, the Warriors welcomed visiting Los Gatos for both teams’ opening game of the Central Coast Section Open Division II playoff game.
The host and No. 3-seeded Warriors weren’t too kind to the visiting No. 6 Wildcats as they throttled the Wildcats 34-15 Saturday night in San Jose.
Junior quarterback Miles Kendrick was extremely efficient, throwing for 75 yards and three touchdowns on just six pass attempts.
“It was a good game. The line did a great job protecting and guys got open and made plays,” Kendrick said. “On offense we take what they give us but on this team we have a lot of big play guys and it shows. Six passes and three touchdowns - it shows the big play abilities of our offense.”
Kendrick took advantage of Los Gatos loading the box to stop Valley Christian’s 1-2 punch out of the backfield of Morian Walker, Jr. and Javon Sturns.
The duo refused to be stopped Saturday.
Walker, Jr. rushed for a game-high 132 yards - including a 50-yard touchdown - on 15 carries while also having a 31-yard touchdown reception. Sturns rushed for 113 yards on 17 carries including a 41-yard touchdown.
“Our line did a great job and kept fighting and we rarely made any mistakes on offense,” Walker, Jr. said. “That’s what kind of made us put some points on the board.”
Anthony Flores and Cameron Woodard each had a touchdown reception for the Warriors.
With the win the Warriors will visit No. 2 seed Oak Grove, which defeated No. 7 seed Archbishop Mitty 52-35 Friday night in another Open Division D-II game.
The Warriors bested the Eagles 24-0 back on Sept. 11 in Valley Christian.
The game started off like it was going to be a good one and not such a one-sided affair as the Wildcats forced the Warriors into a three-and-out on offense. Then on his first offensive play of the game, Los Gatos quarterback Hunter Bigge hit receiver Ryan Wilcox up the seam for a 55-yard touchdown reception.
The lead would be short-lived as Valley Christian answered with a five-play, 59-yard drive that was capped by a 31-yard touchdown pass from Kendrick to Walker, Jr.
From there, the Warriors defense put the clamps on the Wildcats offense.
Los Gatos was held to only 30 yards rushing on 12 carries and was held scoreless after the first play. The Wildcats trailed 28-6 at halftime.
“We put a lot of pressure on them,” Valley Christian coach Mike Machado said. “We didn’t let (Bigge) set his feet and get comfortable back there. You can’t let the momentum get away from you to where they get a rhythm then all of a sudden were on our heels.”
After throwing for 136 yards and a touchdown in the first half, Bigge was held to 21 yards in the second half and was sacked three times under immense pressure all game.
Bigge finished with 157 yards passing while completing 8 of 15 pass attempts.
“We kept shooting ourselves in the foot and against a really good team like Valley Christian, especially in the playoffs you can’t do that,” said Bigge, a senior. “You can’t make mental and physical mistakes against them.
“We knew coming in we would have to play a great game but we didn’t and didn’t execute as good as we should have.”
Los Gatos (7-4), which finished second in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League-De Anza Division, loses 18 seniors from its 47-man roster.
The Wildcats got a late touchdown when on a trick play Miles Beach connected with Ryan Gault for a 27-yard touchdown reception.
Valley Christian (8-3) will now shift its attention to Oak Grove.
“I watched them last night and they look like an improved team from when we played them in Week 2,” Machado said. “We feel good about where we are and our chances so we’re going to Oak Grove on Friday and do what we can to continue the following week.”
