Capistrano Valley Christian wide receiver Max Krosky goes up for one of his 11 receptions, only to be greeted by Valley Christian High junior defensive backs Oliver Boateng (#1) and Dylan Teays in the second half of last Friday’s Ironwood League opener. V.C. was victorious, 33-13 and improved to 6-0. PHOTO BY STEVE FERICEAN.
October 7, 2024
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
To Valley Christian High head football coach Brendan Chambers, the Ironwood League opener last Friday against Capistrano Valley Christian High was personal. He played and coached football at Saddleback Valley Christian High, which would beat up C.V.C. over the years.
And in his first opportunity to face his former South Orange County rival as head coach for V.C., the Defenders had the upper hand in a 33-13 home victory last Friday.
“Our school’s founder also founded Capo Valley Christian,” he said. “So the school I went to in high school spawned off Capo Valley Christian [and] I competed against them in football, basketball and baseball. We were two miles apart, so it was a huge rivalry. It’s a little bit personal for me to come and have this win. I lost in my freshman year and haven’t lost to them since. I told the boys this was personal for me. I also know the head coach over there; I coached his younger brother as well. It was a personal connection.”
The defense set the tone on the third play of the game when junior defensive back Oliver Boateng picked off Nate Richie at the V.C. 37-yard line and returned it 17 yards. From there, senior quarterback Austin Abrahams and senior running back Jayce Shields each had three carries as Abrahams punched it in from five yards out for the quick lead less than four minutes into the contest.
After the Eagles were held on downs near midfield, the Defenders went 51 yards, mixing running and passing plays and ending a nine-play drive with Abrahams tossing a 10-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Lucas Witt on third and eight. It was the second third down conversion of the drive.
Valley Christian High senior quarterback Austin Abrahams hands off to junior running back Karsen Wesley in last Friday’s 33-13 win over Capistrano Valley Christian High. Wesley had 10 carries for 46 yards as five ball carriers rushed 36 times for 183 yards. PHOTO BY STEVE FERICEAN.
Capistrano Valley Christian would then put together its longest drive of the night in terms of plays and time but came away with nothing when a 30-yard field goal attempt from Caleb Lund was unsuccessful, ending an 11-play, 56-yard drive. The Defenders parlayed that opportunity into their third touchdown when, on fourth and six, Abrahams launched a 51-yard strike to junior wide receiver Dylan Teays.
A quick three and out and subsequent punt put the ball at the V.C. eight-yard line where the Defenders used nearly the remaining 2:32 of the half with another Abrahams passing score. This time, he found senior wide receiver Seth Dahlenburg for eight yards. V.C. did not face a third down on the drive and for the first half, it was two of three on third down conversions as the hosts built a comfortable 27-0 lead.
V.C. was nearly a balanced team in the first 24 minutes with 150 yards through the air and 134 yards on the ground and scoring on all four possessions. Five players gained at least a yard on the ground while Abrahams threw to five different receivers. In addition, V.C. played a nearly perfect half, being penalized three times for 15 yards while the Eagles had four plays of negative yardage while Richie was six of 12 for 46 yards. One of those incompletions came right before the punted when a wide open Rocco Windham couldn’t catch a pass from Max Krosky off a trick play.
Valley Christian High senior quarterback Austin Abrahams reaches for the goalline to score on a five-yard run early in the first quarter of last Friday’s game against Capistrano Valley Christian High. Abrahams would score again in the fourth quarter as the Defenders won 33-13 in the Ironwood League opener. PHOTO BY STEVE FERICEAN.
“I would say it reminded me very much of the Cerritos game,” said Chambers. “I felt like we played a very good half of football against Cerritos. This was probably slightly better, especially with that three-minute drive at the end of the half to get an extra score in there; kind of a two for one because we got the ball to begin the second half. But across the board, we were able to throw the ball a little bit and we ran the ball really, really well.”
The Defenders were held on downs to begin the second half, and the Eagles finally hit paydirt with 4:25 left in the third quarter on a 10-yard pass from Richie to Joshua Monroe. Capistrano Valley Christian would have two possessions in the second half with the second one coming early in the fourth quarter.
A 10-play, 70-yard drove that took nearly four minutes ended with Krosky hauling in a four-yard pass from Richie. Before that drive, the Defenders added their final touchdown of the night when Abrahams scampered in from three yards out. He would complete 15 of 18 passes for 207 yards and rush for another 38 yards on nine carries. He has accounted for 26 of the 29 touchdowns the Defenders have scored this season.
“He’s a human highlight reel,” said Chambers of his quarterback. “He just comes out here and just competes. We try to get the ball in his hands as much as possible. So, anytime we’re running the football, we have something often where he can either throw it or run it himself. He’s just a lot of fun to watch.”
Abrahams admitted he was skeptical coming into this season playing quarterback because he had played wide receiver his entire life. He didn’t know what to think about being a starting quarterback, but now, he confesses it’s going great, and this is the best season he could have dreamed for.
Shields rushed seven times for 48 yards and caught a pair of passes for 24 yards, junior running back Karsen Wesley rushed for 46 yards on 10 carries while junior running back Tyson McNeese added 31 yards on eight touches. Witt was the top receiver with 71 yards on six catches while Dahlenburg had four receptions for 39 yards. on defense, junior linebacker Cole Hefner led the way with 11 tackles followed by Witt with half a dozen and junior tackle Isaac Morales with four.
“It starts in practice with all those guys,” said Abrahams. “Our whole team just works so hard, so those guys are able to get better, and I’m able to work with all of them in practice. I’ve known basically a lot of these guys since elementary school, and we’ve all played together.”
The Defenders were coming off their bye week where they had relative ease with the first five opponents, winning by an average of nearly 20 points in four of the victories and edging Baldwin Park High by a point. On defense, V.C. allowed 89 points.
“It was great; it gave us an extra week to prepare for [Capistrano Valley Christian],” said Abrahams. “So, we were able to go over formations in practice earlier and become a lot more familiar with their offense and defense. And the guys were able to get healthy.”
“We got some guys a little bit healthy,” said Chambers. “We had a senior retreat, so we were able to only practice a couple of days. We actually went bowling over the bye week; kind of got these guys away to have them be focused for these next five weeks and kind of emphasized that the last five weeks don’t really matter. Now that we’re in league play, the next five teams are going to be the best five teams we’ve seen all year.
“We knew we were going to have a tough opponent [tonight],” he continued. “But I think the extra week kind of helped us gear up [for Capistrano Valley Christian], and we know we have an uphill climb the rest of the way with the next four.”
But the one stat that stands out is that V.C., which had lost seven straight season openers, have now started a season with six straight victories for the first time since 2002 when that team finished 12-2, falling to Carpinteria High 26-22 in the Division IX finals. The only other loss that season was to Gahr High, a 20-19 setback in the seventh game as the Gladiators rallied from a 19-12 deficit entering the fourth quarter. V.C. also began the 2000 season with six straight wins. And, after winning just three games last season, the Defenders need at least one in their last four games to get some at-large consideration for the CIF-Southern Section playoffs.
“I did not,” said Chambers if he thought V.C. would be 6-0 to start the season. “To be 6-0…I keep telling them they’re making history. If you go back on MaxPreps.com, there hasn’t been a season since MaxPreps.com started where we started 6-0. So, they know that it’s been something that as we’ve gone on each milestone, we’ve been looking forward to that next one to see how far we can push this. It’s just been exciting. I think these kids have bought in to the coaching staff and to themselves and to this community and this culture that we have going right now. We have a tough one ahead of us, but we’re going to relish in this 6-0 right now.”
“It’s awesome; it’s just really great to be able to win,” said Abrahams. “We’ve gone 3-7 [in the regular season] the past two years and to go 6-0, it feels great. The boys…we just have this special bond this year that we really haven’t had in the past.”
V.C. will travel to San Bernardino on Friday to face Aquinas High, a team that has won 33 consecutive league games between the Ambassador League and Ironwood League. Before last season, the Falcons had won at least 10 games in six straight seasons.
