Faith Lutheran strikes early, often against Virgin Valley

Faith Lutheran honored its 20 seniors before Friday night’s game against Virgin Valley.

The Crusaders then made it a night to celebrate.

Grant Wood threw for 136 yards and four touchdowns, and the game was played with a running clock the entire second half in Faith Lutheran’s 49-0 home victory.

“I thought we made some big plays and did a good job of running and passing,” Faith Lutheran coach Mike Sanford said. “I thought we improved from last week. I thought we were better on special teams, and now it’s time to play Gorman.”

The Crusaders will play at Bishop Gorman, the only other Class 5A team in Southern Nevada playing football this spring, next Friday.

Marcos Canales led a Crusaders rushing attack that picked up 154 yards, and seven receivers caught at least one pass.

Faith Lutheran scored touchdowns on its first three possessions.

The Crusaders (2-0) took the opening kickoff and marched 62 yards in eight plays, capped by a leaping grab of a Wood pass by Josh Goynes at the goal line to open the scoring.

They needed two and then three plays on their next two drives to score.

Canales took a direct snap off left tackle and got to the sidelines before racing 62 yards for a touchdown, and Faith Lutheran cashed in a Ben Prado interception with a 21-yard connection from Wood to Goynes with 2:48 to go in the first half.

Both teams sputtered offensively for the rest of the first half until Jordan Pollard scored on both sides of the ball within a 39-second span.

Pollard grabbed a 9-yard scoring strike from Wood with 1:07 left before halftime, then intercepted a Will Barnum pass and rumbled across the field and into the end zone from 35 yards with 28 seconds left before halftime.

The Crusaders defense never let Virgin Valley get going. Barnum threw for 31 yards and three interceptions, and Ethan Workman led the Bulldogs with 43 yards rushing on nine carries. Virgin Valley (0-1), a Class 3A school that began practice two weeks ago, had 115 yards of total offense.

“The defense did a great job,” Sanford said. “We got (four) turnovers, and that was a really good job.”

The Faith Lutheran offense punched in two more scores in the second half on a 12-yard pass from Wood to Aaron Bates and a 59-yard run from Nehemiah Brooks on the final play of the third quarter.

Contact Jason Orts at jorts@reviewjournal.com. Follow @SportsWithOrts on Twitter.