Freddy Rodriguez’s 3-yard touchdown reception from Justyn Delzeit with 23 seconds remaining tonight lifted the Green Valley football team to a 34-31 win against host Faith Lutheran.
Delzeit completed 23 of 35 passes for 404 yards and five touchdowns, as the Gators won for the second straight week to earn a No. 3 seed in next week’s playoffs. They’ll play host Arbor View.
At the end of every practice the past two weeks, Green Valley coaches have been asking the program’s 31 seniors “how much football do you have left,” coach Clay Mauro said.
The overwhelming response: We want to keep playing.
Beating Faith Lutheran certainly helps that mission, as Green Valley plays at Arbor View — and not state favorite — Bishop Gorman next week.
Nate Richter had a monster game for Green Valley with 12 catches for 184 yards and a touchdown, while Raiden Villanueva, Trey Glasper and Xavier Cross also had receiving scores.
Cale Breslin had two touchdown runs to pass Faith Lutheran, who had a 60-yard field goal at the buzzer sail wide right, Mauro said.
After losing six of their initial seven games, Green Valley still has at least one more game to play.
“We played that hard schedule early to be ready for (the end of the season),” Mauro said.