Velarde’s air attack lifts Saints past Calvary Chapel

The win moves Mountain View into sole possession of fourth place in the Class 2A Southern League and puts a serious dent in Calvary Chapel’s playoff hopes. The Saints (3-6, 3-3) would automatically qualify for the postseason with a win over White Pine (2-6, 2-4) on Thursday.

Mountain View’s Cortland LeBoeuf rushed for 103 yards on eight carries, including a 69-yard touchdown run that made it 6-0 just 3 minutes, 19 seconds into the game. Teammate Tanner Peterson finished with seven receptions for 125 yards.

The Saints took a 12-0 lead when tight end Nathan Swingle ran over two Calvary Chapel defenders on the way to a 70-yard touchdown reception with 8:40 to go in the second quarter. Mountain View then went ahead 20-0 midway through the second when Peterson’s 46-yard reception set up a 10-yard scoring strike from Velarde to Karl Benjamin. Velarde ran in the two-point conversion.

Mountain View overcame two second-half fumbles before finally putting together an eight-play, 89-yard drive in the fourth quarter.

Velarde was 5 for 5 on the march, including completions of 25 yards to Justyn Anderson and 21 yards to Swingle, before Alex Watson capped it off with a 21-yard touchdown run with 4:21 remaining. Velarde hit Anderson for the two-point conversion and a 28-0 advantage.

The Lions (3-5, 2-4) struggled to generate much offense, gaining 60 total yards until they scored on a 72-yard hook-and-lateral play near the end of the game. Quarterback Cody Taylor hit Juliene Mejia for a 6-yard gain and Mejia pitched it back to Luke Bilbao, who ran the remaining 66 yards down the left sideline to make it 28-6 with 2:19 to play.

Justin Cox ended with 27 yards on six carries for Calvary Chapel. Taylor was 5 of 13 for 24 yards.