Green Valley’s offense repeatedly sputtered Friday night in a home game against Centennial.
Luckily for the Gators, the defense picked up the slack. Green Valley defeated Centennial 20-14 behind a dominant effort on one side of the ball, improving to 2-0.
“We kept putting our defense against the wall, but they came up big,” Green Valley coach Brian Castro said. “We really played lights-out defensively.”
Among the defensive highlights were a handful of stops on fourth-and-short plays, and three takeaways. Daunte Watson had an interception, while Zane Maningo recovered a fumble.
The hard-nosed play started with Mitch Jacobs, who had a pair of sacks.
It wasn’t all bad on offense, as junior running back Noah Hawthorne paced the Gators at times. He wound up with more than 100 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Green Valley’s other score came on a 16-yard pass from junior quarterback Garrett Castro to senior receiver Michael Cicia.
Green Valley briefly trailed 7-6 in the first half, but its defense made sure the deficit didn’t last long.
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.