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Valley Christian High senior quarterback Austin Abrahams tries to get loose from a pair of Cerritos High defenders during V.C.’s 28-14 win over the Dons last Friday night. Abrahams gained 22 yards on six carries for the game and completed four passes for 129 yards. He was also the Ambassador for Character during the pregame homecoming festivities. PHOTO BY STEVE FERICEAN
September 16, 2024
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
So much has been made and talked about the Cerritos High defense this season through the first three games this season, but Valley Christian High is also grabbing attention for other reasons. Both entered last Friday’s contest with identical 3-0 records, but it was the homestanding Defenders, on homecoming night, who stole the show by scoring four touchdowns within their first seven possessions and holding on for a 28-14 victory. V.C. has already exceeded its victory output from last season while the Dons have allowed 42 points in their last two games after blanking their first two opponents.
“We knew it was going to be a battle of the defenses,” said V.C. head coach Brendan Chambers. “Their defense is absolutely amazing, giving up very little points this year with a couple of shutouts. So we knew that we were in for a tough circumstance offensively. We wanted to try to run the football, limit their possessions and get our defense on the field. We thought if we could make them pass, we would be in a good situation.”
Making things easier for the Defenders was the absence of Cerritos senior running back Dikshanta Adhikari, who leads the team with 374 yards but had one carry for a yard. Without Adhikari, who rolled his left ankle late in the game at Portola High the previous week, the Dons were limited to 65 yards from senior running back Josiah Ungos and 49 yards from junior running back Labrenten Wilson.
“It’s humbling; it’s definitely humbling,” said Cerritos head coach Demel Franklin. “What we saw on film was different from what we saw in actuality, and I was wrong. I preached the wrong message, and we followed the wrong plan.
“It was different because [even though] I have good backs, there are certain things that [Adhikari] does that the other guys can’t do,” he later said of the running game. “But that wasn’t the reason [why we lost]. The reason was I was super conservative in the first half, and we made too many mistakes. There were a lot of penalties, and we kept running the ball. They were loading the box with eight and nine and I’m still forcing them to run the ball. In the second half we started throwing the ball and all of a sudden, it started opening up.”
Franklin said he thought the Defenders weren’t that physical based on the film he saw from V.C.’s game against Baldwin Park High and against Gahr High. He also admitted that he thought V.C. was bigger and stronger than what he gave them credit for.
Three plays into the game, V.C. junior defensive end Max Douglas recovered a fumble at the Cerritos 10-yard line. However, the drive stalled, and senior Ryan Wind had his 23-yard field goal blocked by junior Tyler Ky. But when the Dons couldn’t capitalize on the missed opportunity, V.C. made sure it would score on its next possession.
A 22-yard run from senior quarterback Austin Abrahams and a 19-yard pass to junior tight end Lucas Witt were the highlights that led to a 12-yard touchdown run from senior running back Jayce Shields. After that, both defenses stood their ground until late in the second quarter.
V.C. junior running back Karsen Wesley had three straight runs totaling 53 yards and after an eight-yard gain from Shields, Abrahams scored from two yards out to make it 14-0 with 1:43 left in the half.
“It was tough; [recovering] the fumble and [get] to the red zone and not be able to score points,” said Chambers. “But the way the defense responded like that I think we took the momentum back at that point. Our offense then scored, and it gave us some confidence that hey, if we can do this; if we play together as a team, which we’ve been preaching all year long, we have a chance to upset these guys.”
“I think we were shellshocked that we stalled, and then they came out and hit us,” said Franklin.
Cerritos managed 80 yards of total offense on 28 plays in the first half while the Defenders ran 16 plays. But the biggest one was the last one of the half because V.C. would get the ball to begin the second half and on the second play, Abrahams launched a 50-yard scoring strike to junior wide receiver Dylan Teays and 54 seconds into the half, it was 21-0.
“It was absolutely huge; you get a two-for-one at that point,” said Chambers. “Even if we didn’t score in the first drive of the second half, at least we have possessions ahead of them and we can try to use some clock. So, that was a huge one for us.”
After the Dons were held on downs for the fourth time in their first seven possessions, a 49-yard pass play from Abrahams to senior wide receiver Jayce Shields put the ball at the three-yard line where Abrahams scored his 11th touchdown of the season. He has also thrown for six touchdowns to account for 17 of the 19 the Defenders have on the season. Abrahams completed four passes for 129 yards but was limited on the ground with 22 yards on six carries.
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Cerritos High senior wide receiver Ruben Castro makes one of his eight catches as Valley Christian High senior defensive back Jayce Shields prepares to make a tackle in last Friday’s city contest. Castro totaled 103 yards but V.C. won 28-14 on its homecoming. PHOTO BY STEVE FERICEAN.
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“He was a little banged up going into the game, so we knew he was a little bit limited,” said Chambers. “Obviously, his ability to run the football is what kind of separates our offense. he wasn’t able to [run] as much. So we had to mix in some passes here and there, and he’s just the leader of the offense.”
The Dons finally got on the board after the Abrahams touchdown when Wilson caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Justin Sagun with 4:19 left in the third quarter. Then after a three and out, Wilson ended the third straight six-play drive by the Dons with an 11-yard run to make it 28-14 with 15.8 ticks left in the stanza.
“At 28-0, you really have nothing to lose,” said Franklin. “You have to throw everything out. So I started reopening up the playbook.”
Wesley had 67 yards on seven carries and Shields added another 30 yards on nine carries while on defense, junior linebacker Cole Hefner had 11 tackles and junior defensive backs Sean Bouma and Oliver Boateng added six and five and a half tackles, respectively.
Sagun was 14 of 23 for 146 yards and at two different stretches, completed six and five straight passes, respectively. However, he had five plays on the ground that went for negative yardage. Ky and senior linebacker Nathaniel Crawford each paced the defense with five and a half tackles.
“He wasn’t 100 percent,” Franklin said of his signal caller. “He was out there but he was battling; he wouldn’t let us take him out. He was just hurt. and we had to give [sophomore quarterback Alexander Laurin] a shot in the last drive.”
The Dons will stay on the road for a third straight week when they meet West Torrance High on Friday, a team they defeated 27-21 last season on Cerritos’ homecoming while V.C. goes on the road to Sierra Vista High, which will seek to avenge a 38-0 loss to the Defenders last season on their homecoming night. But the talk still centers on V.C.’s fast start.
The program has not had four regular season wins since back to back seven-win campaigns in 2019 and 2021. The four straight wins are the longest since 2021 when that team won seven consecutive contests. Either way, Chambers says the win over the Dons is a statement victory.
“Absolutely,” said Chambers. “When you go 3-7 [in the regular season] the last two years, to get a fourth win is just huge for us. It kind of sets what we’ve been trying to build here, culture-wise and community-wise. To go out there and compete against Cerritos, who were division champions last year and is a great football team and be able to compete against Gahr [on Aug. 23], I think it just kind of shows we’re doing great things over here. It is a statement win.”
