Basha rolls past Gators

Basha High of Chandler (Ariz) lists its official school colors on its website as forest green and “Vegas Gold.”

The Bears football team struck gold Friday in Henderson, rolling to a 27-3 halftime lead on the way to a 41-17 victory over Green Valley.

Rajhan Meriwether stuck pay dirt early and often for Basha, as the senior running back scored four first-half touchdowns to knock the Gators on their heels.

Meriwether had TD runs of 7 and 2 yards, and also caught a pair of TD passes, one for 88 yards and the second for 11.

Green Valley’s defense had difficulty slowing down the Meriwether in the running game, and then gave up big plays on the Bears bubble screens.

By halftime, Basha had outgained Green Valley’s 347-78.

“Well you know what? That is a very good football program over there,” Green Valley coach Brian Castro said of Basha. “But we have to rise up to the challenge when good programs come to town. We have to raise our level of play, and we didn’t do that tonight.

“That’s my fault. But I will fix it. Everything that happened tonight can be fixed. It’s not time to push the panic button, but it’s time to get better and get better in a hurry.”

Green Valley’s offense came alive at the start of the second half, as Christian Lopez capped a 10-play, 83-yard drive with a 7-yard TD run that cut the lead to 27-10.

The Gators then forced the Bears to their first three-and-out of the game, but the offense stalled on the ensuing possession, and the Bears struck again when quarterback Zach Werlinger hit Doc O’Connor on a slant pattern that O’Connor took 28 yards for a touchdown to make it 34-10 and quash any momentum the Gators had.

Werlinger was 18-for-27 for  359 yards passing and four touchdowns.

Lopez was 19-for-33 for 187 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.