Foothill stays unbeaten with 28-13 win over Palo Verde

Despite an undefeated record, Foothill coach Vernon Brown didn’t think his team had caught many breaks offensively in its first three games.

That wasn’t a problem for the Falcons on Thursday night.

Koy Riggin threw for 233 yards and three touchdowns — none of which was on a perfectly run play — and Foothill claimed a 28-13 road win over previously unbeaten Palo Verde.

“They’re go-getters. They go get the ball,” Brown said of his receivers. “A couple of times we checked and guys didn’t hear the check or had the wrong read, so we had a couple guys in the same area. We finally got some breaks to go our way, so hopefully it’ll even out.”

With the way the Foothill defense was playing, the offense didn’t need much to go its way. Palo Verde (3-1) scored first by eschewing its usual ground-and-pound approach out of the double wing, spreading the field and throwing the ball.

Palo Verde quarterback Paul Myro hit his first three passes, including a 12-yard touchdown to Amir McGruder in the first quarter.

Myro went 3-for-12 with an interception the rest of the way to finish 6-for-15 for 84 yards. When the Panthers got back into the double wing, the Falcons (4-0) were ready. Foothill limited Palo Verde to 133 yards on 29 carries, with 50 of those yards coming on a Charron Thomas run in the fourth quarter after the game had been decided.

“For three years I’ve been blessed with a stout defense,” Riggin said. “This year is no different. I know we’ve had some players and coaches leave, but we still have some dudes out there. We know if we have to punt – we don’t want to, but we know they’re going to hold it down if we do.”

Riggin’s first two touchdown passes went to James Mitchell, who had four receptions for 83 yards. The first was a 58-yarder on a deep pass that was intended for Thomas Welch, but the ball went off his hands and right to Mitchell. On the second, Riggin scrambled to his right and all the way back across the field before finding Mitchell wide open in the back of the end zone from 6 yards out.

The latter of those plays came with 1:50 to go before halftime and pushed the Falcons’ lead to 21-7.

“It was important that we got in front,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, they jumped on us first, but we were able to get a lead that forced them to throw the ball. We know they’re a little uncomfortable doing that, and once we got a couple points on the board we were pretty successful.”

Riggin’s final TD strike was a 15-yard pass to Welch on a pass he floated high in the air and allowed the receiver to go get it. There was another receiver in the area on that play as well, but Riggin said his pass hit its intended mark.

The Falcons ran the ball enough to keep the Palo Verde defense honest. Kendric Thomas scored a 21-yard touchdown in the second quarter that put Foothill ahead. He finished with 81 yards on 14 carries.

Charron Thomas scored from 2 yards out with 15 seconds remaining in the game and also had 81 for the game on 14 carries for Palo Verde.

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Contact Jason Orts at jorts@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2936. Follow @SportsWithOrts on Twitter.