Big Valley Christian struggles in second quarter, drops season opener to Waterford
Early in the week, COVID took some games off of the high school football schedule. Then, Friday welcomed an outbreak of game cancellations and reschedules after fires in the area made for unsafe air quality.
Big Valley Christian, however, did get to play against Waterford.
It was Big Valley’s first game of the season and it showed. Missed tackles, cramping and mental miscues plagued the Lions all night and after finishing the first quarter tied at 14, the visiting Wildcats scored 20 points in the second quarter to hand Big Valley a 34-26 defeat.
While the Lions were playing their first game, Waterford opened the season a week earlier, defeating Stone Ridge Christian 44-14. It proved to be a big edge for the Wildcats.
“It’s always a disadvantage when somebody’s got a game under their belt because there’s lots of little things ... you kind of forget about,” Big Valley Christian head coach Brian Berkefeld said.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Lions had a chance to needed a defensive stop to stay within reach. But on third and six, with less than two minutes left, Big Valley couldn’t make the big tackle.
Big Valley crashed on the Waterford ball carrier in the backfield ... then the inexperience kicked in. The runner slipped away from three would-be Big Valley tacklers for a 13-yard gain, essentially putting the game away.
“That play at the end obviously stands out because it was in a critical moment,” Berkefeld said. “But there were plays that happened all throughout the game that, if we would have done this or done that, would have been a game-changer for us, too.”
Waterford’s key to victory was an explosive second quarter, scoring 20 unanswered points to put them ahead 34-14 at halftime. It was a hole Big Valley could never dig out of.
A 41-yard pick six from safety Kale Herrod served as the final Waterford score of the first half and ultimately put the game out of reach.
“We weren’t reading the right reads on defense and we weren’t filling where we needed to fill and so we were getting gutted up the middle.” Berkefeld said.
In the second half, the Lions seemed to shake off the first-game rust.
Wes Yarbrough rebounded from two first-half interceptions to throw two big touchdowns, one a 34-yard jump ball to Kayden Spears and another a 28-yard strike to Elijah Aviles.
“It took halftime for us to get that right.” Berkefeld said.
The start of the game and the end of the game were good for the Lions (0-1), it is the in-between that they will need to improve next week at home against Rio Vista (0-1).
Waterford will take its impressive 2-0 record into next week’s home game against Mother Lode League opponent Summerville (0-0).
