Area roundup: Valley Point does it again

Slow-starting Valley Point caught fire near halftime Thursday and went on to capture its second straight Whitfield County Middle School Athletic League eighth-grade football championship.

Mired in a scoreless contest late in the second quarter, the unbeaten Green Waves (6-0) eventually rolled to a convincing 28-0 vicgtory over the visiting Westside Rockets (5-2), whose only losses this season were against Valley Point.

“The field conditions I think hurt us early,” Valley Point coach Sean Gray said. “We weren’t clicking early and got frustrated.”

But the Green Waves got on track and won the title by the same score they posted in last year’s championship game against North Whitfield.

“Our guys showed a lot of pride by playing well in the last half,” Gray lauded. “It reflects on their parents and the community in general.”

With a mere 1:01 left in the first half, Valley Point’s Cole Gillean returned an interception 35 yards to Westside’s 44. Damien Manning then had an 11-yard completion to Abram Stanley and Manning connected with Alex Clowers on a 33-yard touchdown pass with only 12 seconds in the quarter. Manning threw a two-point strike to Stanley for an 8-0 lead.

On the second snap of the fourth quarter, Clowers got his second touchdown with a 42-yard run around left end. Manning tossed again to Stanley for two points and a 16-0 lead with 5:21 left.

Valley Point’s defense set up the next score when Manning, playing linebacker, returned an interception 17 yards to Westside’s 39. Blake Foster ran twice to cover the 29 yards, the score coming on a 20-yard gallop. The two-point conversion run failed and Valley Point led, 22-0.

Luis Fraire concluded the scoring with a 58-yard run — his only carry of the game — with 1:40 remaining.

““There’s a good team behind me,” said Clowers, referring to his two touchdowns. “Although we started a little slow, we picked it up.”

Foster sparked Valley Point’s 236-yard rushing efforts with 83 yards on 11 attempts. Clowers added 60 on three carries attempts. Manning passed for 40 yards.

“I like returning an interception better than throwing a touchdown,” Manning said. “This championship means a lot since it’s the second one.”

The Green Waves’ defense did not allow the Rockets past their 29. They yielded 64 yards total, including 61 on the ground.

Valley Point’s Kyle Whaley blocked a punt early in the second quarter at the Green Wave’s 43, but the Green Waves failed to cash in.

“This group won two games last year as seventh graders,” Westside coach Keith Bingham said. “They won five this time. That shows tremendous improvement.“

Quarterback Tevin McDanield led the Rockets with 25 yards rushing on eight carries. Matt Horne intercepted a pass and Raul Franco recovered a fumble.

Cross country

Southeast senior Josue Limas ran a personal-best 17:45 and finished fifth in a 77-runner field to qualify for the state meet on Nov. 7 in Carrollton. Limas also was a state qualifier as a sophomore, Southeast coach Jacki Hasty said. Hasty said every runner from Southeast — boys and girls turned in a personal-best time in the region meet.

“We’re really pumped for Josue,” Hasty said. “He’s a dedicated runner who really wants to run in college

Jose Montelongo ran an 18:48 for 25th place, Ryan Thompson had a 20:15 for 44th, Logan Ledford went 21:04 for 56th and Zach Williams had a 23:49 for 76th place.

Kristabelle Rangel led the Lady Raiders with a time of 23:25 to finish in 23rd place. Rangel was followed by Summer Faith (24:05), Anahy Rangel (24:45), Nelda Benitez (25:00) and Amber Young (26:02) rounded out Southeast’s top five.

North Murray failed to qualify a runner for state, but Isaac Pacheco turned in a time of 18:06 for a ninth-place finish. Following him were Tyler Duckett (19:23, 35th), Jacob Sturgill (19:26, 37th), Guillermo Cruz (19:31, 38th) and Drew Mosteller (20:27, 48th).

Only one Lady Mountaineers runner was able to compete, and Tiffany Gardner ran a 32:00 race. Ashlyn Stephens was injured and Dara Cople was ill.

JV football

• Dalton 14, Northwest Whitfield 10: Shut out for the first 3 1/2 quarters, the Catamounts got two touchdowns from Matt Cobb in the final 5:22 to defeat the Bruins.

Cobb scored on runs of 5 and 20 yards to keep the Cats unbeaten after five games. Julio Mora kicked both extra points for Dalton.

“Our defense gave us a chance to win,” Dalton coach Charles Mitchell said. “Offensively, we finally got it going in the fourth quarter. I was proud of the boys for hanging in there and not giving up.”

A special team miscue by Northwest put the Catamounts in scoring position at the Bruins’ 15, and Cobb took over from there.

The Bruins (4-2) took a 10-0 lead in third quarter when quarterback Colter Creswell hit Alex Heard with a 25-yard touchdown pass. Jorge Solarzano kicked the extra point.

Solarzano had given Northwest a 3-0 first-quarter advantage with a 30-yard field goal.

“We did OK on offense and defense, but our special teams just aren’t making plays,” Northwest coach Nick Bridges said. “We hope to correct those things before we play Dalton again on Monday.”

The Cats and Bruins will play at 5:30 p.m. on Monday at Harmon Field for the Region 7-4A junior varsity championship.

• Woodland 36, North Murray 33: Quarterback Brady Swilling rushed for two touchdowns and threw two scoring passes to Austin Owens, but it wasn’t enough to get the first-year Mountaineers over the .500 mark on the season.

“Our defense played well at times and they made us look silly at times,” North Murray coach Larry Cornelius said. “Our youth definitely showed.”

The Mountaineers are 4-4-1 with one game remaining on their schedule.

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