Big plays leads Highlands past Valley
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Friday, September 3, 2021 | 10:41 PM
Highlands’ Jrake Burford catches a touchdown pass past Valley’s Dion Lyons during the first half Friday, Sept 3, 2021, at Valley Memorial Stadium.
Valley’s Zaire Warren make a acrobatic catch against Highlands’ Landan Signorella in the first half Friday, Sept 3, 2021, at Valley Memorial Stadium.
Valley’s Zaire Warren (left) intercepts a pass intended for Highlands’ Luke Bombalski during the first half Friday at Valley Memorial Stadium.
Highlands quarterback Chandler Thimons made the most of his pass completions Friday night at Valley.
The junior completed three passes — all for touchdowns — as the Golden Rams routed the Vikings, 41-6, in a nonconference game at Valley Memorial Stadium.
Thimons threw touchdowns of 45 and 40 yards to Jrake Burford and a 36-yarder to Landon Signorella as Highlands improved to 2-0.
Sophomore Luke Bombalski had another big game for the Golden Rams, running for 131 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.
Highlands holds an 18-12 lead in the all-time series, labeled “The Battle of the Bridge.”
“My hat’s off to Valley. They’re tough,” Golden Rams coach Dom Girardi said. “That’s what I expected. They have a lot of speed and a lot of skill. I think we were eventually able to wear them down as the night went on.”
The Vikings (0-2) were undermanned because of injuries but were undeterred for much of the game. Valley made several defensive stops, but a pair of fourth-down conversions buoyed the Golden Rams’ scoring drives.
“We moved the ball the whole first half. The second half, we had too many three plays and outs,” Valley coach Muzzy Colosimo said. “Right now, we don’t have enough weapons, but we will. Jayden Richter just came back after an arm injury. We lost two kids with concussions last week. We just got to get healthy.”
The game’s first big play came early.
Burford blocked a Valley punt, and Tyler Thompson captured the loose ball in the end zone to put the Golden Rams in front with 9 minutes, 10 seconds to go in the first quarter.
After stopping the Vikings on downs at the Highlands 15, the Golden Rams drove 85 yards in eight plays with Burford hauling in a Thimons pass for 45 yards and a score on a fourth-and-2.
Valley scored when Jeremiah Johnson rolled left on a fake reverse and raced 62 yards for a touchdown.
“They’;re very athletic, and I was impressed with their toughness up front,” Girardi said. “Early on, they were doing a pretty good job.”
Highlands answered, however, with a 40-yard pass from Thimons to Burford early in the second period.
Tyler Bender recovered a Valley fumble and returned it to the Vikings 15. But the Golden Rams were denied as Zaire Warren picked off a Thimons pass in the end zone.
The Golden Rams scored again as Luke Bombalski shred tacklers up the middle for a 10-yard run and his fifth touchdown of the season.
Warren snared his second interception of the game at the Valley 30 with 27 seconds in the half.
Valley was hampered by 78 penalty yards in the first half.
Highlands took the second-half kickoff and drove 73 yards on nine plays to make it 34-6. A key play in the drive was Thimons converting a fourth-and-1.
Thimons made it 3-for-3, three pass completions for three touchdowns, that is, with a 36-yard strike to Signorella.
Said Girardi: “We saw a couple of things we wanted to take shots on, and it worked out well.”
One bright spot for Valley was stopping the Golden Rams on downs at the Vikings 1 with 7:41 to go, but a punt resulted three plays later.
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