Top-ranked Palo Verde flattens Foothill
Palo Verde’s football team ran only 19 offensive plays in the first half on Thursday night.
It was more than enough.
The Panthers (3-0) racked up 315 yards of offense in the first half and took a 42-0 lead at the break on the way to a 49-0 win over visiting Foothill (0-1).
“Our execution was good,” Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost said. “We’d watched tape, and they kind of gave us some stuff on the perimeter, and we took advantage of it.”
Palo Verde finished with 369 yards rushing.
Chappell Thomas was the biggest home run threat for Palo Verde, rushing for 143 yards on just three carries. He had touchdown runs of 70 and 45 yards.
“Chappell ran the ball really well for us,” Rost said. “He’ a lot different runner than his older brother, Chaz, that played for us last year. He’s got great pull-away speed.”
Tyrone Blake added 102 yards and three touchdowns on seven carries. He had TD runs of 23, 2 and 9 yards.
Grant Bernhardy had a 1-yard TD run, and Ernest Hall stripped a Foothill ballcarrier and returned it 20 yards for the other TD.
After allowing two first downs on Foothill’s opening possession, Palo Verde allowed just two more the rest of the way. For the game, Foothill managed 125 yards of offense as Palo Verde recorded its second straight shutout.
“We settled down, and I thought we played good defense,” Rost said. “We played real physical against them.”
Thayer Coon had a pair of sacks for Palo Verde, which recorded four sacks.
It was the third straight snoozer in the special series of locally televised Thursday night high school games. Silverado dominated Chaparral 42-6 in the first game, and Arbor View defeated Centennial 38-13 last week.
