FOOTBALL: Penalties put damper on Legacy victory — VIDEO

A season-opening victory against a nearby rival couldn’t stop Legacy coach John Isola from seeing yellow.

The Class 4A Longhorns traveled to down the street to 3A Mojave on Friday and beat the Rattlers 22-6, but flags stymied their offense on multiple drives.

Isola estimated after the game his team cost itself 200 yards of offense.

“I don’t even know what the count was, but I know we had probably 20 penalties and that’s just insane,” Isola said. “I don’t know what it was … We’re lucky. We’re fortunate.”

Legacy’s setbacks on offense kept the score 8-0 through three quarters before the teams combined for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

Running back Samuel Turner’s 4-yard TD run extended the Longhorn’s lead but soon Mojave (0-2) showed fight on offense.

Senior Taiwan Braden threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to junior DeQuincy Mitchell just more than halfway through the final quarter, but a failed 2-point conversion kept the game from getting tight.

Instead, Legacy quarterback Roberto Valenzuela scored the second of his two 1-yard rushing touchdowns with 31 seconds left to ensure the victory.

Valenzuela’s first score got the Longhorns’ offense on the board with less than five minutes to play in the first half. The team’s defense actually scored the first points of the game by tackling Tawee Walker in the end zone for a safety.

The safety came after a punt pinned the Rattlers on their own 1-yard line, but Isola was likely cursing the fact his team was punting at all. Legacy had a first-and-10 at the Mojave 22-yard line that turned into a punt on fourth-and-52.

“Penalties, I can’t say it enough,” Isola said. “We’re very happy to be 1-0 but we’re looking forward to getting better.”

While the offense was experiencing setbacks the Longhorns defense looked strong, with the fourth-quarter touchdown passing being the only dent in its performance. Legacy often kept eight defenders near the line of scrimmage to shut down the Rattlers’ running game.

“The defense has been something that I’ve been telling everybody about all along,” Isola said. “We’re super-fast, we’re very intense and we’re going to be hard to handle.”

Mojave had a harder time slowing down the Longhorns on the ground, specifically Turner. The senior kept getting the ball and responded with 113 yards on 24 carries.

“I was very proud of Sam. Sam ran really, really hard,” Isola said.

But the coach couldn’t help himself from returning to a familiar theme.

“He probably would have had over 200 if we didn’t have the penalties that we have,” he said.

Shadow Ridge 51, Eldorado 0 — At Eldorado, Malik Lindsey ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns and added a touchdown catch as the Mustangs rolled past the Sundevils.

Coming off a 1-9 season and having gone through several years without a season-opening win, Shadow Ridge (1-0) took the lead right off the bat when Lindsey rumbled 44 yards for a touchdown off a fullback dive on the team’s first offensive play of the season.

After Kaejin Smith ran in a 2-point conversion, Lindsey added a second touchdown, when he took a short swing pass from Kody Presser and turned it into an 18-yard score with 2:30 left in the first quarter. Travis Boston ran in another 2-point try to make it 16-0.

Big plays were the theme for Shadow Ridge as Elisha Young took a toss sweep down the right sideline for a 78-yard scoring run with 4:40 left in the second quarter and a 24-0 lead. Audrey Nellems later added a 97-yard return for a score on the second-half kickoff for the Mustangs.

Young finished with 121 yards on four carries, and the Mustangs limited Eldorado to 99 yards of total offense.

Jaime Rangel completed 10 of 25 passes for 85 yards and an interception. Andres Jimenez caught six passes for 34 yards for the Sundevils (0-2).

Desert Pines 51, Rancho 0 — At Desert Pines, Randal Grimes was 7-for-8 passing for 120 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Jaguars over the Rams.

Grimes played in place of Marckell Grayson, who is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Grimes added a 5-yard TD run in the second quarter for Desert Pines, which had three TDs in a span of 4 minutes, 8 seconds to push its lead to 29-0.

Capri Uzan scored two touchdowns in a span of 1:03 in the first half. He caught a 17-yard TD pass from Grimes, then returned an interception 40 yards for a score.

Eddie Heckard returned the second half kick 59 yards for a touchdown, and Michael Lofton and Isaiah Morris each had TD runs for the third-ranked Jaguars (2-0).

Rancho (0-1) managed just 37 yards of offense.

Cimarron-Memorial 41, Valley 0 — At Valley, the Spartans rushed for 330 yards and six touchdowns on just 28 carries en route to a shutout over the Vikings.

Cimarron quarterback George Tribble opened the scoring on the game’s first series, capping a 10-play opening drive with a 1-yard plunge. Early in the second quarter, Tyree Riley broke free down the left side for a 76-yard gain that set up Tribble’s second rushing score from 2 yards out. Riley added touchdown runs of 3 and 6 yards and finished with a game-high 176 yards on 13 attempts.

Riley would be spelled by senior running back Tyreece Tyler, who picked up where Riley left off. Tyler dominated on the ground down the stretch, scoring on runs of 47 and 34 yards, finishing with 107 yards on four carries in the final quarter alone.

The Spartans (1-0) were dominant on defense, limiting the Vikings (0-2) to just 24 yards of total offense.

Clark 38, Western 6 — Isiah Bigby threw four touchdown passess and ran effectively on the ground to help the Chargers beat the Warriors.

Bigby led the Chargers (1-0) on a 65-yard opening drive for a score, concluding with a 27-yard pass to Semaj Taylor. Clark then recovered the following kickoff after the squib kick hit a Western player. Bigby and Marlon Kinnard then helped move the Chargers down the field, with the drive finishing just before the end of the quarter with an 8-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Fagan.

Western (0-2) made its way back into the game on its first drive, with Kwan Carter making his way through the Charger defense for a 30-yard TD run.

Clark had a quick answer, following a kick return into Western territory, with Kinnard going in from 7 yards with 9:03 to go in the half.

The Chargers then turned it on in the second half, recovering the opening kickoff on another squib kick. DeAndre Smothers closed the drive with a 10-yard TD reception from Bigby with 7:51 to go in the third quarter.

Fagan caught his second TD pass, this one from 13 yards out, with 5:40 to go in the third. Aquantay Morris closed the scoring for the Chargers later in the quarter on a 17-yard TD pass from Justin Aguilar.

Carter finished with 58 yards passing and 46 rushing for the Warriors.

Boulder City 42, Lake Mead 0 — At Lake Mead, Boulder City used nine running backs, six of whom scored touchdowns, in a rout of Lake Mead.

Boulder City (1-1) opened up the scoring with 7:41 left in the first period on a 23-yard touchdown run by Travis Hungerford and never looked back.

Taylor Hatchel and Dillon Viera had TD runs of 2 and 6 yards in the final six minutes of the half to put Boulder City up 21-0 at the break.

Aaron Walker was the clear workhorse for the night, carrying the ball 15 times for 83 yards.

Cyrus Quintana, Michael Morgan and Briggs Huxford added fourth-quarter TD runs for Boulder City.

Lake Mead (1-1) employed the same ground-and-pound philosophy as Boulder City, but without the same success. Lake Mead had four players finish with negative rushing yards.

Jared Reagan was responsible for Lake Mead’s only play of note, a 55-yard sprint between the hashes. He finished with 66 yards on nine carries, before leaving the game with an injury in the third quarter.

Moapa Valley 25, Hurricane (Utah) 13 —At Overton, the Pirates rode Jacob Leavitt for three touchdowns as they took down the Tigers.

Leavitt had 92 receiving yards and one TD, and rushed for 73 yards and two scores.

Hurricane book-ended the scoring, scoring the first and last touchdown of the game, but that was all its scoring. Moapa Valley scored four times between those touchdowns, including two in the second quarter after being shut out in the first.

Quarterback Daxton Longman completed 8 of 17 passes for 174 yards and had a 1-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

Del Sol 14, Pahrump Valley 11 — At Pahrump, the Dragons stormed to a 14-3 halftime lead and held on to defeat the Trojans.

Pahrump Valley’s Nico Velazquez had an 18-yard touchdown run on offense and an interception on defense, and teammate Joey Sladek added a 42-yard field goal for the Trojans.

Battle Mountain 35, The Meadows 13 — At The Meadows, quarterbacks Bryan Chavira and Gabe Naveran each ran for two touchdowns as the Longhorns topped the Mustangs.

Battle Mountain’s defense held The Meadows scoreless over the final three quarters with three turnovers.

Chavira had TD runs of 7 and 13 yards and finished with 98 yards on 14 carries, and Naveran supplied rushing scores of 9 and 19 yards, finishing with 91 yards on 10 rushes.

Arturo Serrano ran for 78 yards, including a 1-yard TD plunge, and had a sack and a fumble recovery for the Longhorns (1-0).

Adam Martinez had a 65-yard TD scamper on the first play from scrimmage for The Meadows (1-1), and quarterback Jack Berkley scored on an 11-yard keeper to give the Mustangs a 13-8 lead with 4:03 left in the first quarter.

Berkley completed 10 of 20 passes for 130 yards for The Meadows.

Layton Christian (Utah) 38, Agassi Prep 14 — At Rancho, the Eagles scored three touchdowns in a four-minute span during the second quarter to take control and defeat the Stars.

With the scored tied 6-6, quarterback Braxton Llewelyn led Layton on a 95-yard drive that ended with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Llewelyn to receiver Pedro Silva.

On their next drive, Llewelyn ran for an 18-yard touchdown to give the Eagles an 18-6 lead. The Stars fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Layton running back Christian Moffo immediately scored on 23-yard touchdown run to raise the score to 24-6.

Agassi Prep freshman quarterback Micah Gayman, who passed for 265 yards, found receiver Zeivaun Ned for a 23-yard touchdown just before halftime, and the Stars’ successful 2-point conversion cut the lead to 24-14 at halftime.

The Eagles quickly reestablished themselves on their first drive of the second half that ended with Moffo’s 39-yard touchdown run, his second of the game. Moffo led the Eagles with 143 yards rushing.

Gayman threw for two touchdowns in the game, both to Ned who led the Stars with 137 receiving yards.

Needles 46, Mohave Accelerated (Arizona) 0 — At Bullhead City, Arizona, Frankie Garcia caught four touchdowns to lead the Mustangs to the victory.

Quarterback Jayden Yeager threw four touchdown passes and ran for a TD for Needles (2-0).