Central Valley rules line in win over U-Hi

Central Valley football coach Rick Giampietri will have a tough decision to make, singling out one lineman for a weekly team award.

The entire Bears front, on both sides of the ball – and featuring the return of veteran Kameron Kempe back after missing three weeks with a broken foot – played a big role in CV’s 31-7 victory Friday over rival University at CV.

Played in front of a capacity audience estimated at 3,000 on Greasy Pig trophy night, the Bears did not have to do anything fancy on offense. On defense, the line stifled the Titans at the point of attack, limiting them to 52 total yards late into the third quarter.

Although CV’s string of shutout quarters ended at 15 when U-Hi’s Mike Conrad was uncovered and took a pass 42 yards to score with 4 minutes, 30 seconds left in the game, the Bears made sure there was little doubt of the final result.

“It was close,” said Giampietri of CV’s bid for a fourth straight shutout victory. “I knew (Conrad) would be a hard guy to keep down. But we had a chance there.”

The game was close until midway through the final quarter.

CV (5-2, 4-2) capitalized on Zach Evans’ 44-yard punt return and clutch passing by quarterback Camren Ebat to lead 7-0 with 5:22 gone in the game.

Ebat had lately shared quarterback duties with Nick Lallier, but Ebat had to shoulder the entire load because of an injury to Lallier.

U-Hi (3-4, 3-3) stuffed the first two plays before Ebat hit fullback Dane Knudson over the middle for a nifty catch that covered 16 yards. Three plays later, Ebat hit sophomore Patrick Mealey for a 4-yard touchdown.

Evans added a field goal that ricocheted off the left upright and through to make it 10-0 before half.

That’s how it stood until Ebat drew the Titans offside on fourth-and-2 and Tyler Demars scored on the next play for a 17-0 advantage with 6:04 remaining in the game.

“I didn’t know if 10 was going to hold up, then, all of a sudden, the dam broke,” said Giampietri.

After Conrad’s touchdown, the Bears struck for two quick scores in the game’s final 3 minutes.

“That was a trenches ball game,” Giampietri said. “It was kind of where we knew it would be. They were tough to run against in the first half, but we just kept pounding on them and kind of got them where we wanted them at the end of the game.”

He credited the work of Kempe, C.E. Kaiser, Titus Mertens, Pat Leulaui, Ben Thomas, Derek Nelson and tight end Brad Johnson for their work up front.

U-Hi managed just 55 yards rushing in the game.

Not lost was the effort of Ebat, a catalyst behind CV’s 302 rushing yards spread among four backs. All his 72 yards on 10 carries and 6-for-9 passing for 60 yards came at times when the Bears needed to keep drives going.

“I had a lot of great blocks,” Ebat said, alluding to the line play. “They pushed off the ball great.”

East Valley 50, Shadle Park 21

EV’s Matt Volpe opened the game with a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Shadle had an answering drive, but the Knights dominated after that.

EV (5-2, 5-1) scored the next 43 points while amassing 479 yards of total offense, 330 on the ground.

The Knights remained tied for second in the GSL.

Ryan Campbell rushed for four touchdowns, giving him 20 for the year and tying him for seventh all-time in single-season scoring. Jye Lanphere passed for 149 yards and a touchdown and added an extra-point run.

Shadle (3-4, 2-4) got a 79-yard score by Justin Oliveri, one of its two fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Clarkston 14, West Valley 9

The Bantams (2-5, 2-4) stymied WV’s running game and worked their way back into the 3A playoff picture with a taut victory at home against the Eagles (2-5, 2-4).

Clarkston scored in each of the first two quarters on passes by Trent Line to Jacob Acey and Eric Entel. The Bantams limited WV to a negative-14 yards on the ground.

Bryan Peterson tried to pass the Eagles back into the game, completing 24 of 51 attempts for 354 yards. It was the fourth-highest single-game total in league history.

E.J. Richardson had six catches for 131 yards and Cam Wieber eight for 109 for WV. Camron Bowman scored all nine of WV’s points.