Freedom rings Golden Valley's bell

With a new spread offense, Jake Messina has assembled his team to win shootouts.

On Friday night, Golden Valley just didn't have enough ammunition.

With their two top running backs standing on the sideline in street clothes, the Cougars couldn't keep up with Freedom as the Falcons blitzed GV 42-16 at Veterans Stadium.

"We scrapped as much as we could," said Messina, whose team dropped to 1-3. "I couldn't risk injuring any of my kids. We did the best with what we had, but we have to get ready for league."

The Cougars were without leading rusher Ernie Teal (turf toe), who rushed for three touchdowns last week against Johansen. Golden Valley has also been without Rashawn Vance all season, but expect to get him back in two weeks when the the Cougars head to Pitman.

With the two backs sidelined, the GV offense turned to the right arm of quarterback Ridge Bertuccio.

The first-year starter finished with 54 passing attempts. He completed 28 of them for 265 yards and two touchdowns.

"That's obscene," Messina said. "Who wants to do that? We feel like we have one of the best 1-2 running back combos, but nobody has been able to see them play together because they've been in the training room."

The Cougars defense was able to slow down the Falcons (4-0) early. However, the GV offense was unable to capitalize on two first-quarter turnovers by Freedom in its own territory.

Jordan Sheppard muffed a punt and Golden Valley's Mitch Barnum pounced on it to give the Cougars the ball at Freedom's 24-yard line.

Bertuccio found Bryant Brown for what looked like a 24-yard touchdown on a screen pass, but GV was penalized for holding.

Another holding penalty on the next play backed the Cougars back toward midfield and they were eventually forced to punt.

Andre Bodiker intercepted a pass to give GV the ball right back, but the Cougars went three-and-out.

It didn't take long for Freedom to get in a rhythm.

The Falcons scored 28 points in the second quarter as running Joe Mixon (201 rushing yards and three touchdowns) broke off long touchdowns of 24 and 63 yards.

Quarterback Dante Mayes hooked up with Jordan Sheppard for a 60-yard scoring strike and later found Darrell Daniels for a 29-yard touchdown pass.

Bertuccio connected with Juan de la Torre for a 20-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter.

Chris Winzer hauled in a 9-yard touchdown catch midway through the fourth quarter for GV's other touchdown.

Freedom racked up 511 yards of total offense against Golden Valley.

The Cougars will get a tuneup game next week against Fresno before Central California Conference play begins.

Fresno has been outscored 183-12 in its 0-3 start.