West Ranch is focused this season.
This team believes in each other and has one goal in mind: Winning the Foothill League title.
They are one step closer to that goal after a 23-16 win over Valencia Friday night at Valencia.
West Ranch (8-0, 4-0 Foothill League) defeated Valencia (4-4, 2-2) Friday night from a balanced offensive attack, led by quarterback Ryan Staub and runningback Tyler Scott.
However, the game opened up very sloppy on the offensive side. There were a combined four turnovers from both sides in the first six minutes of the game. Two of those turnovers came from Staub throwing two interceptions. This gave him his first two interceptions of the season. One was caught by Ralph Testa, and the other was hauled in by Bradon Boateng.
“You just have to turn the page. We still had high confidence. It was just a couple of miscommunications here and there,” Staub said. “Just flip the page and doesn’t mean our confidence is low.”
Tyler Scott was one man who did not have low confidence at all. His first touchdown of the night came from a 27-yard rush after Nathan Petrie recovered a fumble by Valencia. His second was a 4-yard run that put up Valencia 13-0 early in the first.
On the very next drive, Scott had a 79-yard rush that set up a Staub quarterback sneak, which put up the Wildcats 20-6 in the second quarter.
This was Scott’s second game back after an ACL tear ended his season last year.
“This was the game I was looking forward to the most,” Scott said. “I just showed out and I just showed everyone my ability. I just felt great.”
Valencia struggled on the offensive side of the ball. One of their only touchdowns came from quarterback Trey Erickson on a 1-yard rush. The offense for the Vikings almost got shut out in the second half but with under a minute left in the game. Ralph Testa caught a 2-yard pass from the backup quarterback for the Vikings, which cut down the deficit to 23-16.
The Wildcats control their own destiny now for a league title with two games left on their schedule: Golden Valley (6-2, 3-1) next week and Castaic (1-6, 0-3) the following week. Coach Chris Varner knows he has to make sure his team is ready even after a big win.
“They’re definitely not anything to look past or anything. We’ve got to come out and take care of business,” Varner said. “That’s all we’re gonna focus on.”
Ryan Staub shares a similar mindset with his head coach.
“We have to get back to work starting tomorrow,” Staub said. “I mean, definitely a good win, but we have to get back to work.”
The Vikings have a bye week next, but their next opponent is Hart (1-6, 0-3).