Field position, special teams woes doom Saints against Layton Christian

The Mountain View football team finished on top of Layton Christian (Utah) in nearly every statistical category Friday, with one major exception.

Field position.

Visiting Layton Christian started six drives in Saints’ territory and turned them into 21 points on the way to a 24-20 victory.

Matthew Larson ran for 108 yards and two touchdowns, but Mountain View (0-1) struggled on special teams and allowed 24 unanswered points in the second and third quarters.

Larson rumbled 75 yards on fourth-and-10, stiff-arming one Eagles defender to the turf on the way, to make the score 24-20 with 6:36 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Layton Christian (1-1) went three-and-out on its next possession, and a 17-yard return by Nick Jenkins gave Mountain View the ball at the Eagles’ 37-yard line with 4:07 to play.

But Saints quarterback Ian Locke was stopped for a loss on third-and-1 before his fourth-down pass, intended for Noah Van Kempen, was incomplete.

“The defense got a couple of tough stops, firmed up when we needed and gave our offense a chance,” Mountain View coach Mike Valenzuela said. “We put ourselves in position to win.”

The fourth-down play wouldn’t have stood as the Saints were flagged for an illegal formation, which was a problem throughout for Mountain View.

Locke connected with Van Kempen for what appeared to be a 29-yard score on the penultimate play of the first half only to have it called back for an illegal formation.

“The one at the end of the half makes it a different ballgame,” said Valenzuela, whose team settled for a 14-10 lead at the break. “They play differently on offense if we score. It’s really frustrating because those are things we can control.

“We didn’t help ourselves on offense. It seemed like we had four or five drives that started off with illegal procedure or some other penalty. It’s hard to dig yourself out of a hole consistently.”

Locke ran for 65 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter that put the Saints up, 14-0.
Jack Chandler had 102 yards and a touchdown for the Eagles, whose average starting field position in the second half was Mountain View’s 46-yard line.

The Saints, who committed seven turnovers in a 41-0 loss to the Eagles last season, ran only three plays in the third quarter after being held to 35 yards of total offense in the second.

Brock Rawlings had two key punt returns for the Eagles. His 27-yard burst set up Markiece Gibson’s 8-yard touchdown run that cut Mountain View’s lead to 14-10 with 3:50 left in the second quarter.

Rawlings’ 32-yard return midway through the third quarter gave the Eagles possession at the Mountain View 16, and Chandler scored on the next play to make it 16-14.

Larson then muffed the ensuing kickoff and Raekwon Mcelroy recovered at the Saints’ 22. That led to Grayson Jackson’s 1-yard sneak that made it 24-14 with 1:12 to go in the third.

“I’m proud of the guys for fighting back,” Valenzuela said. “On the other hand, it’s disappointing we lost focus and had alignment issues.”