Viper defense puts squeeze on Bobcats
WEEKLY BLOG: 10/8/21
Verrado used a dominating defense to shut down Central Friday night and Erick Santiago accounted for four touchdowns as the Vipers crushed the Bobcats, 45-7.
It was a defensive tussle for the first 17 minutes before Verrado expanded on a 3-0 lead. And strike the Vipers did. A sneak from Santiago got the run started. He completed a 28-yard pass play for a touchdown to JD Alicea a few minutes later. Runs by Julian Virgen and Connor Gingg marked a four-for-four in touchdown drives for the quarter giving VHS a comfortable 31-0 lead at the half. Gingg rushed for 117 yards on his 13 carries.
"We did really good," Alicea said. "Everyone came out and played. We put some touchdowns on the board."
On defense, Verrado (3-1) built a wall to keep the Central offense out of the end zone and made the Bobcats pay, picking off four passes, forcing four punts, and stopping CHS twice on fourth down. The Vipers' defense has now gone 11 straight quarters without allowing a single point.
"Up front we played very well," Verrado head coach Dustin Johnson said. "We're firing off guys like Ryan Willey - a sophomore. We're getting a lot of pressure. Coach (Bob) Burt is doing a great job with our defense. The blitz packages are making a big impact."
Johnson left Tonopah Valley in June to become the Vipers' new head coach. He hired Burt as the defensive coordinator. Burt is a veteran of more than 50 years of coaching football. In addition to high schools, his stops include UCLA, Hawaii, and Cal State Fullterton.
The only Bobcat points came on a turnover. Senior Anthony Pacheco intercepted a pass at his own 20, made his way over the left sideline and brought it back for an 80-yard touchdown.
There were some hiccups along the way. Verrado was penalized 19 times for a whopping 215 yards. Several were false starts and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that didn't hurt the Vipers on Friday night, but could down the road.
"We have to clean up penalties," Johnson said. "We can't have drives affected like they were. Especially, the ones we can control."
Santiago threw the ball 20 times, completing eight passes for 182 yards. In the second half, he connected with Alicea on fourth down in the left corner of the end zone for a 26-yard play.
"We were running a corner," Alicea said. "He wasn't even on me. It was a pretty easy touchdown."
Santiago's third touchdown pass of the game (and 12th of the season) was a screen pass to Colin Tibbs. Tibbs usually plays defensive back, but broke free and took it 43 yards to close out the scoring.
"Coach let me go in and just take a little screen," Tibbs, who also plays defensive back said. "I had to break two tackles and get a stiff arm. I love going in, helping the team and playing."
Tibbs, a junior, has started on varsity since his freshman year. He was part of a defensive unit that held Central to minus-2 yards of total offense in the first half and 18 yards for the game. The Bobcats completed just one of 14 passes.
"We wanted to stop the run," Tibbs said. "Our corners and safeties made plays and got picks."
The interceptions for Verrado were by Juan Virgen Jr. (two), Jhayden Frye, and Brenden Velez. Defensive ends Kai Oskins (one) and Ryan Willey (two) had quarterback sacks.
Central (2-2) faced a giant obstacle in having to play without starting quarterback Dominik Bagchi. The junior, who passed for 298 yards in a win earlier this year against Sierra Linda, suffered an ankle injury early in the Bobcats' game last week against Trevor Browne. Senior Carter Allen, who had 275 of those receiving yards against SLHS, lined up behind center and ran some Wildcat. Central also tried its starting quarterback from the three games the team was able to play in 2020.
"The offense never got into a groove," Central head coach Chandler Hovik said. "We've got to do better as coaches making adjustments."
The Bobcat defense kept it a 3-0 game midway through the second quarter. In addition to Pacheco's interception, Allen picked off a pass and Joe Munoz recovered a fumble.
"Our defense fought as hard as they could for as long as they could when our offense was going three-and-out or turning the ball over," Hovik said.
Hovik said Bagchi's injury is not a severe high ankle sprain and is hopeful that he can return next week when region play begins. Central is in the 5A Metro Region and travels to Maryvale (0-5) next Friday.
"It's a brand new season," Hovik said. "Region play starts next week. We're ready for Maryvale. We've got our rival coming up with Camelback. We're really excited for region play. We're excited to get our guys back and ready to rock."
Verrado has completed non-region play and is at the halfway point of the schedule. The Vipers have allowed just 47 points all season (9.4 points per game). The 2016 team holds the best mark in school history at 16.9 points allowed. Next week, 5A Desert West Region play begins against Fairfax (1-5). After that, tough games loom with Millennium, Ironwood, Sunrise Mountain, and Desert Edge.
"Our region is one of the tougher ones in 5A," Johnson said. "We'll go after Fairfax first. We see on the horizon what we have."
First Quarter:
Verr - Geovanni Bonessi 29 yard FG, 3:50
Second Quarter:
Verr - Erick Santiago 1 yard run (Bonessi kick), 7:04
Verr - JD Alicea 28 yard pass from Santiago (Bonessi kick), 4:20
Verr - Julian Virgen Jr. 10 yard run (Bonessi kick), 3:42
Verr - Connor Gingg 8 yard run (Bonessi kick), 1:06
Third Quarter:
Verr - Alicea 26 yard pass from Santiago (Bonessi kick), 7:13
Cent - Anthony Pacheco 80 yard interception return (Ismail Foz kick), 4:40
Fourth Quarter:
Verr - Colin Tibbs 43 yard pass from Santiago (Bonessi kick), 5:55
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