Legacy comes out fiery, dominates visiting Palo Verde

Legacy football coach John Isola didn’t feel his team was receiving enough respect heading into Friday night’s game, so he asked his players to make a point.

The Longhorns fulfilled that request in convincing fashion.

Roberto Valenzuela completed 5 of 9 passes for 150 yards and three touchdowns to help ninth-ranked Legacy start fast en route to a 45-14 victory over visiting Palo Verde.

“This was a statement game for us,” Isola said. “We came out and we wanted it. I told my players that you don’t ask for respect; you take it by going out and proving yourself. When you do that, eventually it will happen.”

The Longhorns (4-0) delivered quickly, needing just four plays to drive 66 yards and scoring on a 3-yard pass from Valenzuela to Amorey Foster.

“I challenged my guys to score early,” Isola said. “I told them that if we could score early, it would be a long night for Palo Verde.”

A 50-yard touchdown pass from Valenzuela to Marcus Brown made it 12-0 three minutes later, and Skye Parker extended the lead to 18-0, when he recovered a Panthers fumble for a 5-yard TD with 39 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Palo Verde (0-4), which did not convert a first down in the opening quarter, came to life early in the second with a 59-yard TD pass from Jonathan Schofield to Rashaad Thomas.

But the Longhorns needed less than a minute to get the points back, scoring on a 91-yard Valenzuela pass to Marquell Evans to go ahead 24-6.

An 11-yard scoring sprint by Foster made it 31-6 midway through the quarter, though the Panthers cut their halftime deficit to 31-14 with a 4-yard Schofield keeper just before halftime.

Valenzuela threw just one pass — and incompletion — in the second half, as the Longhorns began pounding the ball on the ground.

“That was by design,” Isola said. “We didn’t need (Valenzuela) taking hits. He’s been growing every week and getting comfortable and confident, and we didn’t want him to get hurt.”

Another Palo Verde fumble led to a 1-yard Sam Turner TD run early in the fourth, and Isaiah Whitehead capped Legacy’s scoring with a 1-yard plunge with 3:32 remaining.

Turner rushed 18 times for 90 yards to lead the Longhorns’ ground game, and Evans nabbed two passes for 97 yards.

The Panthers, who managed just 122 yards of offense, got 40 yards on Nick Zuppas’ 5 of 19 passing.