Hawks stay on top

VICTORVILLE • The Silverado football team clinched at least a share of its third Desert Sky League title in a row with a 20-7 win over Granite Hills on Friday night at Ray Moore Stadium.

The Hawks (3-7, 3-1 DSL) came back from an 0-6 start to the season in nonleague play with wins in three of their last four.

“That’s probably the only positive thing from tonight,” Silverado quarterback Jemeryn Jenkins said. “That we got a DSL championship.”

Jenkins helped the Hawks jump out to a 20-0 lead following their first three drives by throwing two touchdown passes and running for another.

But the Hawks struggled from that point and neither team scored in the second half.

After gaining 231 yards in the first half, including 184 in the air, the Hawks were held to 118 in the second half. They got called for a number of penalties and reached the red zone only once after recovering a bad snap that sailed past Cougars quarterback James Lovato and resulted in a missed field goal.

Granite Hills (2-7, 0-3 DSL) scored late in the first half when Lovato connected with Bryce Quigley on a 12-yard pass to make it 20-7, but that was it for the scoring.

“Unfortunately, we seem to be regressing,” Silverado coach Carl Posey said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for coach (Justin) Price. Under the circumstances, they played their (butts) off. We went up 20-0 on them early, and man they didn’t fold. They came back and kept fighting and made a game out of it. You have to respect how those kids fought and played for coach Price. I’m impressed.”

The Cougars didn’t help themselves out offensively with three bad snaps. One resulted in a turnover.

“You look at our defense that plays well — that’s our experience,” Price said. “The guys that are inexperienced are on offense. We have two guys on offense that returned. You’re looking at nine guys that haven’t played varsity football offensively ever.”

Jenkins capped off a 64-yard, nine-play, game-opening drive with a 3-yard run to put Silverado up 6-0.

Following a three-and-out by the Cougars on their next drive, Jenkins capped a 68-yard scoring drive with an 11-yard pass to Maurice Brown over the middle. The drive was helped by a 57-yard pass to John Bridges, who finished with 126 yards on seven catches.

The Cougars then drove to the Hawks’ 24, helped by a 33-yard run by Antwaun Jones, but a bad snap led to an 18-yard loss and a missed field goal from 49 yards.

Jenkins put the Hawks up 20-0 when he connected on a 24-yard pass to Michael Johnson, who leaped over a Granite Hills defensive player to reach the end zone.

Granite Hills 0 7 0 0 — 7
Silverado 13 7 0 0 — 20

First Quarter
S — Jenkins 3 run (kick failed)
S — Brown 11 pass from Jenkins (Lugo kick)
Second Quarter
S — Johnson 24 pass from Jenkins (Lugo kick)
G — Quigley 12 pass from Lovato (Viernes kick)

C.J. Daft can be reached at christiand@vvdailypress.com or at 951-6275.