Gators show no rust, top Valley

Following a bye week, Green Valley football coach, Brian Castro, feared his team might be a bit rusty going into its game on Friday.

The Gators wasted no time erasing those fears, scoring twice in the first 2:14, and rolling to a 47-13 victory over host Valley.

Albert Lake scored three touchdowns in the first half for the fourth-ranked Gators, who racked up 173 yards on the ground and another 191 through the air.

Green Valley scored on a 43-yard pass from Christian Lopez to Markus Varner, and again on a 12-yard run by Lake to go ahead 13-0 at the 9:46 mark in the first quarter.

Castro said he was pleased with his team’s running game.

“At times we ran the ball really well,” he said. “The guys did what they needed to do.”

The Vikings (1-4) showed some life early on, when they capped a 16-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Malik Batiste late in the first quarter. That cut the deficit to 13-6.

That’s when Castro saw room for improvement.

“The guys seemed a little flat,” he said. “We didn’t execute the game plan as well as we would have liked to.”

Flat or not, the Gators took over with two second-quarter touchdowns by Lake, taking a 26-6 lead into halftime.

Green Valley scored its second-half touchdowns on: a 20-yard pass from Lopez to Gio Hernandez, a five-yard run from Larry Norman, and a six-yard run from Austin Warhop.

Lake finished with 75 yards on nine carries to lead Green Valley (3-2), and Lopez completed 10 of 15 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns.

Batiste was responsible for both Valley scores, one being a 30-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter.