Gators’ defense steps up in home win over Coronado

Green Valley’s offense made plenty of noise in the team’s first five games, averaging 491.8 yards.

On Friday night, it was all about the defense.

The Gators held Coronado to 120 yards of offense and forced a pair of key turnovers en route to an 18-7 home victory.

“We came out strong as ever,” senior safety Dakota Prussia said. “We had to. They have a great offense over there, and we just had to come out and do what we had to do.”

Prussia and the Green Valley defense came up with a key stop early in the game to steal the momentum.

The Gators (5-1, 2-0 Southeast League) had taken a 2-0 lead after a snap went through the hands of Coronado quarterback John Farella and through the end zone for a safety with 2:41 to go in the first quarter.

But a terrible punt nearly set the Cougars up to take the lead. Green Valley punter Brayon Williams barely got his foot on the ball, and it bounced into the offensive line and went for a punt of minus-1 yard, giving the Cougars (3-3, 0-1) the ball at the Green Valley 29.

Coronado moved the ball to the Green Valley 8, but a penalty and two huge defensive plays kept the Cougars out of the end zone.

Logan Hughes sacked Farella for a 12-yard loss on second down, and Prussia jumped a post route on the next play, intercepting the pass to end the drive.

“That was a huge play for us,” Green Valley coach Brian Castro said. “Coming in (Prussia) hadn’t played a whole lot of defense. But we leaned on him a little this game and he did a great job.”

The Cougars feature a strong kicker in Spencer Cofer, so they were almost assured of taking the lead had Prussia not picked off the pass.

“That changed the game entirely,” Prussia said. “That interception was great. We scored off that drive and we kept it going.”

The Gators drove 85 yards on nine plays following the turnover, with Albert Lake scoring the first of his two touchdowns on a 17-yard run with 8:11 to go in the half to make it 9-0.

Nate McAloon later stripped Farella and returned it to the Coronado 10, setting up a 23-yard field goal by Frank Canales to make it 12-0 with 7:36 left in the third quarter.

“I think they played with a chip on their shoulder,” Castro said of his defense, which limited Coronado to 25 yards on the ground. “Because I don’t think they get the credit they deserve some of the time. But they played well tonight.”

Cofer replaced Farella at quarterback and led the Cougars on a six-play, 37-yard scoring drive capped by a 1-yard run by Jordan Patterson with 2:05 to go in the third quarter to cut the lead to 12-7.

But the Gators responded with Lake capping an 11-play drive with a 1-yard TD run to make it 18-7 with 4:33 to play.

The defense again came up big on Coronado’s final possession, with McAloon and Jon Garrison recording sacks and Brock Hershberger stopping a Cofer scramble for no gain on fourth-and-10.

Christian Lopez completed 19 of 30 passes for 160 yards for the Gators. He finished the game by completing his final seven passes, all for short gains.

“With a defense like Coronado’s, that’s about all you can do is take what they give you and just keep trying to move the chains,” Castro said.

Lake rushed for 108 yards on 24 carries, and Austin Warhop had 10 catches for 83 yards for the Gators.

“This is everything to us,” Prussia said. “They’re in our backyard and they’ve been talking all week and we had to prove them wrong.”

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587. Follow him on Twitter: @DamonSeiters.