Focused Arbor View uses strong defense to top visiting Palo Verde

The rivalry between Arbor View and Palo Verde has generally been heated over the years and has provided some entertaining matchups in recent years. And though the Panthers have struggled through a winless campaign this season, Arbor View coach Dan Barnson knew better than to underestimate Palo Verde’s young, physical team.

“I’m superstitious, and I didn’t want to hear anything about this being an easy win,” Barnson said. “(Charlie) Jarvis, the defensive coordinator is such a good coach, he’s been around forever. We knew it was going to be a tough game, at least for our offense, because they’re very well-coached.”

But thanks in large part to a stingy defense, the Aggies pulled away for a 28-7 home win on Friday night to remain in first place in Northwest League play.

Hayden Bollinger completed 11 of 20 pass attempts for 150 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a third score to lead the Aggies (6-1 overall, 4-0 Northwest).

Running back Deago Stubbs also accounted for 99 yards of total offense. Stubbs, who leads the team’s rushing attack with 539 yards on 92 carries, was more efficient as a receiver in the game, hauling in five passes for 75 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

Stubbs put in the blue-collar work against the Panthers, even when he was used as a decoy for DeKarri Gunn, who ran for 56 yards to lead the ground game.

“He’s an all-around athlete, he’s an amazing player, amazing person and he adds a lot of skill to this offense,” Bollinger said of his teammate. “All throughout practice during the week he works his tail off, and that means a lot to this offense. But I gotta thank the guys up front, and he does to, but he’s an amazing receiver and back.”

And when he wasn’t directly involved in Barnson’s shifty double-wing offense, Stubbs found a way to get involved by making key blocks on pass plays he wasn’t the target.

“Mostly it’s our line that does all the work, and gets us able to do what we do,” Stubbs said. “But I don’t like losing, so I take everything serious, every play. If I gotta block someone, I’m gonna get the block. If I gotta get the yard, I’m getting the yard. Whatever coach tells me to do. I’m just trying to make a play the best I can.”

The Aggies opened the scoring when Jaquari Hannie bulldozed his way through three Palo Verde defenders at the corner of the end zone, and dove inside the cone to give Arbor View a 6-0 lead. Stubbs’ TD catch at the 9:34 mark in the second quarter and Carter Andrade’s extra point made it 13-0.

The Panthers answered shortly thereafter, when Bobby Webster fell on a loose ball in the end zone, cutting the Aggies’ lead to 13-7.

Bollinger found Jesse Triplett wide open in the flat to make it a two-possession game before the half. The Aggies took a 21-7 lead into the locker room after a two-point conversion.

Bollinger punched in a 1-yard run midway through the third quarter for the final margin.

It was the fifth time in seven games the Aggies’ defense held an opponent to single digits.

“We tried to stick to the game plan that we had set, and made adjustments off what they came with,” defensive end Elijah Wade said. “We play hard every down, and push the line of scrimmage. We control that, and let our linebackers do their job behind us.

“We always talk about controlling the game from the start, hitting them in the mouth and continuing to keep our foot on their necks. We want to play hard through every down, through every play, through every quarter no matter how much we’re up.”

Palo Verde (0-6, 0-3) was stymied to a mere 48 yards on offense. Running back Jonathan Schofield ran for 33 yards on 14 attempts to lead the Panthers.