Leavitt, Milligan torch Chargers

Virgin Valley’s Garrett Leavitt and DeVonte Milligan have been torching secondaries across the Las Vegas area this season, and the Clark Chargers were the latest to feel the burn.

Leavitt threw for 387 yards and four touchdowns, including two long scoring strikes to Milligan, in Virgin Valley’s 48-21 rout of Clark. Milligan caught seven passes for 254 yards. His scores came on passes of 57 and 81 yards. The Bulldogs are now 4-0 on the season while the Chargers drop to 2-2.

“We saw they had a one-high safety and they’d always press the receivers,” Milligan said. “I don’t mean to sound cocky, but there is no one who can lock me up.”

Virgin Valley coach Chris Sawyers was impressed with how Leavitt and Milligan played Friday night. Leavitt has thrown for 911 yards and 13 touchdowns in the first four games, while Milligan has caught 18 passes for 423 yards and five touchdowns.

“They are both really talented kids,” Sawyers said. “[DeVonte] is pretty green and has not played a lot of football. He was homeless at one point and ended up moving to Mesquite. He’s a great player who is just learning the game. The sky is the limit for him.

“Garrett also is very talented. … To his credit, he has really improved over the course of the last year. He got bigger and stronger. I know it doesn’t look like it, but he has gained 30 pounds.”

Virgin Valley got off to a quick start when Leavitt hit Dee Bowler on a 40-yard touchdown pass to take a 7-0 lead.

The Chargers had chances in the first quarter to tie the game, but an interception by Hunter Woods and a fumble recovery by Bowler ended two long Clark drives.

In the second quarter, Leavitt and Milligan took over. The duo connected on two scoring passes to push the Bulldogs lead to 20-0.

Clark got on the scoreboard when Isaiah Lyles May returned a kickoff 83 yards to cut the Bulldogs lead to 20-7. Virgin Valley gave up several long returns during the game, which caused some concern for Sawyers.

“We definitely need to work on a few things on special teams,” he said. “What will end up happening is we may put a few more starters on special teams. I hate to say that because I’d like to see all the kids play. We obviously were not very good tonight. [Coaches] need to scheme them up better — that is on us.”

Virgin Valley answered the kickoff return when Harold Caswell scored on a 3-yard run. With 23.3 seconds remaining in the half, Leavitt connected with Bowler on a 10-yard scoring strike to push the Bulldogs’ lead to 34-7 at halftime.

In the second half, Leavitt scored on runs of 1 and 2 yards.

Clark’s Milan Dixon ran for 132 yards on 23 carries, including TD runs of 1 and 50 yards.

While the Bulldogs are happy to be 4-0, Sawyers said they still have a lot of work to do to accomplish their goals this season.

“There is a lot of things we need to do,” he said. “Our offensive line struggled a bit in the run game, especially early. Our kids are physically able, but the 3-3 stuff [Clark] ran bringing pressure caused some confusion. Defensively, in the run game, we got to get better with the basics like tackling and using the techniques we are coaching.”