Banged-up Buhach Colony finishes Golden Valley with strong fourth

Buhach Colony High School’s football team is banged up.

Beaten up might be more accurate, with its stars seemingly taking the field wearing as much pre-wrap and medical tape as pads after a tough nonconference schedule and opening Central California Conference play with the top three teams. With most of those stars playing both ways, the Thunder has understandably faded down the stretch in games.

It made Friday night’s 30-21 victory over Golden Valley at Falcon Field all the sweeter. Whether it was Jace Alcazar’s 2.5 sacks, Hunter Stefani’s strip and rumble or Brandon Muse’s two second-half touchdown runs, Buhach’s walking wounded delivered when it mattered most.

“We just have a lot of guys that have to go both ways, and when you play 150 to 160 plays a night, it’s going to wear you down, which has been part of our problem,” Thunder coach Kevin Navarra said. “We’ve got a lot of guys banged up also, which obviously hasn’t helped. But the effort continues to be there from this team.

“I told our guys that through three quarters, we’ve been in position to beat the top three teams in this league. If we could just get our minds right to finish things in the fourth quarter, we’d be fine. I felt like they did that tonight.”

The Thunder (3-6, 1-3 CCC) defense set the tone early by forcing four turnovers in the first half and six total.

Golden Valley (4-5, 1-3) struck first, using a good return on the opening kickoff and five plays to score. Cadrian McDaniel (five catches, 81 yards) made a leaping catch on a throw by Armando Muzquiz for a 22-yard touchdown to make it 7-0.

That would be it for the Golden Valley offense in the opening half, however. The Cougars threw two interceptions, muffed a punt, fumbled and punted on the next five possessions. The Cougars had just 94 yards from scrimmage in the opening half, 40 on their opening possession.

Buhach’s offense finally began to take advantage in the second quarter.

Zachary Sawyer kicked a 25-yard field goal to put the Thunder on the board, and Kory Woods (13 carries, game-high 129 yards) took an Andrew Morris screen pass 42 yards for a touchdown on the Thunder’s next possession for a 10-7 halftime lead.

“For all that went wrong in that first half, we felt great only being down three at halftime,” Golden Valley coach Dennis Stubbs said. “We were able to move decently through the air when we held onto the ball, and they couldn’t cover Cadrian all night.

“But every time we got a little momentum, we’d just hand it back to them with a turnover.”

Buhach started the third quarter with a bang as Donte Askew took the second-half kickoff 85 yards for a score and a 17-7 lead.

With their hopes for a first playoff appearance since 2006 on the line, the Cougars answered with back-to-back touchdown passes by Muzquiz (13 of 27, 254 yards). Brady Mello had an 11-yard scoring catch on a big fourth-down play, and Brandon Reyes caught a 51-yard TD pass on Golden Valley’s next series to give the Cougars a 21-17 lead.

The Thunder regrouped and began going to work on Golden Valley’s interior defense. Buhach ran the ball 51 times for 344 yards, the bulk of which came between the tackles. One such run put Buhach back in front just before the end of the third quarter, as Muse punched it in from two yards out.

Golden Valley looked like it had stolen the momentum right back when a roughing-the-kicker call on a punt gave it a first down at the Buhach 48. The thievery was just getting started, however, as Buhach’s Hunter Stefani ripped the ball out of Isaiah Montanez’s hands and returned it to the Golden Valley 30 on the next play.

Muse scored on a seven-yard TD run seven plays later to all but put away the game.

“The defense has made plays all season,” Stefani said of the Thunder’s six forced turnovers. “We just haven’t always taken advantage of it. We’ve forced a lot of fumbles that we haven’t gotten, so it was nice to have a few bounce our way.

“I was just working down the line when I saw Montanez coming around the edge, and he was holding the ball kind of loose. I just grabbed it and was running the other way before anybody even knew I had the ball. I thought I was gone. I saw nothing but open field, but they caught me from behind. The offense picked me up, though, and we got the W.”

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 1:21 AM with the headline "Banged-up Buhach Colony finishes Golden Valley with strong fourth."