Golden Valley to face Buhach Colony without key players, including star running back
The Golden Valley High football team will be without three key players when they face Buhach Colony on Friday night at Dave Honey Stadium.
The Cougars will sideline sophomore running back Jabari Phillips, linebacker Ryan Nunes and versatile senior Avery Townsel.
Not the ideal scenario if you’re Cougars coach Rick Martinez and facing an undefeated team.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this ever,” said Martinez, who is in his 14th season as a head coach. “We’ve lost at least one starter every week going back to week one.”
Phillips injured his thumb last week and may be able to play against Merced in the regular-season finale if he’s cleared by a doctor, according to Martinez.
Phillips ran for three touchdowns in Golden Valley’s 32-7 win over El Capitan last week and has racked up 21 rushing touchdowns this season.
“We’ll go to back-by-committee,” Martinez said. “We have Anthony Cornelio. Our strength has been our O-line. We’ll rally behind them and coach it up.”
Nunes (knee) has been a big contributor on the Cougars defense and Townsel (shoulder) has been a big-play threat on offense, defense and special teams.
The Cougars face a Buhach Colony team that has been rolling. The Thunder come in 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the CCC. Buhach Colony routed Central Valley 51-6 last week.
“If we can just find a way to sneak into the playoffs we’ll be in pretty good shape because we might have everybody back,” Martinez said. “We’ll see what we can do.”
