Grizzlies too much for Eagles

THE BALL CARRIER: Quarterback Levi Cox watches his running back Derek Serna run with the ball near the 40 yard line as players from Lassen attempt to catch up to him and take him down before he scores a touch down for the Eagles.

West Valley played tough and had strong passing game on Friday against Lassen, but a slow start in the first half did not help their chances of victory going into the second.

Darren Lee was able to score three touchdowns and run an interception back for a touchdown to put Lassen ahead of West Valley 28-14 going into the half.

The Eagles came back from the half rejuvenated and ready to fight, however, they were unable to score on their first possession in the third quarter and matched the ball down the field on their second possession late in the third.

From that drive they scored a touchdown the first seconds of the fourth quarter, making the score 28-21. The Eagles were unable to score on either of their next two possessions.

On a fourth and goal attempt from the Lassen 3-yard line, Derek Serna tried to find a hole to run through, but was sacked for a loss of seven yards on the play with 6:21 left in the fourth quarter.

West Valley's defense was able to hold Lassen on a fourth and one attempt to get the ball back with 2:01 left in the game, however three plays later, Levi Cox was intercepted by Lassen's Tyler Park. Cox finished the game 20 for 39 passing for 200 yards and a touchdown.

The defense went back onto the field and tried to get the ball back, but Lassen was determined to hang on to the ball. On the punt by Lassen, they ran it into the end zone for a safety to end the game, 28-23.

"We need to learn how to play the first half of the game. I thought they played well," said Greg Grandell, West Valley's head coach. "We just need to get out the gate, it seem to take getting punched in the mouth for us to play football. We can't spot a team points and then expect to come from behind and win."

According to Grandell, the coaches feel like they should be 3-0 in the league but allowing teams to get ahead of them in the first half hurts their chances of winning the game.

"I'm really proud of them, they are really getting it together. We're getting healthy finally," said Grandell. "If we win twice we can get a playoff game at home."

Jake Gibbins had eight catches for 105-yards, Tyler Stevenson had seven catches for 55-yards, and Ronny Hampton had four catches for 38-yards.