Valley Up to Speed After Slow 1st Half

HARBOR CITY — Before his football team’s game against Harbor College on Saturday afternoon, Valley Coach Jim Fenwick was genuinely concerned about a letdown. After all, it was a case of teams headed in opposite directions--Valley was undefeated and on the rise, Harbor winless and heading nowhere.

For most of the first half, Fenwick’s fears appeared justified.

The Monarchs, ranked 10th in the nation by the J.C. Grid-Wire, struggled early before pulling away for a 45-17 victory over their outclassed opponent in a Western State Conference Southern Division game.

“We were ready, but we were also very respectful of Harbor,” Fenwick said. “They’re (an 0-7 team), but they’re much better than that. It was also an afternoon game, and they’re used to it and we’re not.”

Valley (7-0) also might have been looking ahead to its next game against powerful Bakersfield. Whatever the reason, the Monarchs appeared to play cautiously against the lightly regarded Seahawks for most of the first half.

The Monarchs clung to a 10-3 lead until running back Johnnie Brown broke loose for 48-yard touchdown run with 1 minute 39 seconds remaining in the second quarter. Then holder Steve Comer made the best of a bad snap from center, running it in for a two-point conversion and an 18-3 halftime lead.

The game still appeared in doubt late in the third quarter when Harbor drove 76 yards to the Valley 15. But defensive back Doug Socha intercepted a pass in the flat by Harbor quarterback Kenji Tatum and returned it a school-record 93 yards for a touchdown.

Harbor was also the opponent when Bob Fries established the previous record of 76 yards in 1959.

For all intents, that was more than enough points against the turnover-plagued Seahawks. But Valley took advantage of two more turnovers to open a 38-3 cushion after three quarters.

Despite the lopsided margin of victory, the Monarchs managed only a 338-327 advantage in total yards. The difference was a Valley defense that forced six turnovers.

“It’s the sign of a good team when you get those type of opportunities and turn them into points,” Fenwick said.

Valley was led by quarterback Jim Arellanes, who completed 17 of 28 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. He spread his passes among eight players, including receiver Cameron Perry and running back Deriek Charles with four each.

Comer, the leading receiver in the WSC, had three catches for 66 yards and a touchdown.

“He’s such a good receiver that a lot of people are double-covering him,” Arellanes said. “But we’ve got a lot of guys we can spread the ball around to on this team.”