Valencia’s Defense Dominates

With seven starters returning on defense, Valencia Coach Mike Marrujo figured his team would be strong against the run. Friday night against El Dorado, the Tigers made the word “strong” seem sort of wimpy.

The Golden Hawks were stifled for a net total of minus-17 yards on the ground in losing to their cross-town rival, 27-6, at Valencia High.

And for good measure, the Tigers (3-0) added three interceptions to their eight sacks of El Dorado quarterback Brian Zurhellen.

“I thought the defense played its best game of the season,” Marrujo said. “We had only one breakdown and a minimum of mistakes.”

Offensively, Valencia had similar trouble establishing the run, but the confident passing of senior quarterback Brian Bartczak (13 of 23 for 167 yards and one touchdown) took the pressure off running back Scott Parker, who converted three Tiger drives with touchdown runs of two, three and three yards.

“[Bartczak] has really come on this season,” Marrujo said. “He’s not only leading the team well, he’s making a lot of plays for us.”

Valencia took a 14-6 lead into halftime and refused to allow El Dorado (2-1) any hope of getting back into the game in the second half.

Zurhellen was sacked four times for minus-24 yards and three other drives ended on interceptions by Giovanni Alvarez-Mena, Justin Fletcher and Sonny Lopez.

Zurhellen, who was throwing on the run most of the night, completed seven of 10 passes in the first half for 60 yards and one touchdown, but completed just one pass for no gain in 10 attempts in the second half.

“They sure did take it to us,” El Dorado Coach Rick Jones said. “We’d show signs of doing some things and then have breakdowns we couldn’t overcome.”

Parker finished with 52 yards in 25 carries for Valencia.