LVHS football team drops to 0-4

By KRIS REILLY, Editor

LUCERNE VALLEY • Homecoming Night wasn’t exactly a joyous occasion for the Lucerne Valley football team, as the Mustangs fell 42-0 to California Military Institute at Ron Peavy Field last Friday.

Lucerne Valley dropped to 0-4 on the season and has lost each game by three touchdowns or more.

“We need to mature,” Mustangs coach Chris Klinger said. “When things go wrong in a game, we aren’t handling it as well as I would like. We are slowly improving at dealing with adversity.”

Klinger added that he was proud of how the Mustangs continued to play hard as they faced a six-touchdown deficit late in the game. CMI coach Derrick Johnson agreed.

“There’s no quit in those guys,” Johnson said of the Mustangs. “They didn’t quit the whole game.”

Already a young team, Lucerne Valley was without two of its senior linemen, Vincent Risler and Daniel Jauregui, both of whom are out with shoulder injuries. Another senior, linebacker/running back Bryce Beavers, was held out of the first quarter because he had missed practice time during the week.

“We played a pretty darn good team with lots of athletes and speed,” Klinger said. “I don’t want to take anything away from them. I don’t want to use the injuries as an excuse.”

Lucerne Valley did get one senior leader back in the lineup Friday as quarterback/safety Alondre Logan returned from a concussion, but the Mustangs’ offense sputtered nonetheless.

Lucerne Valley was held to 54 net yards of offense as the Rough Riders (4-1) loaded the box to stop the Mustang’s run-heavy attack. Johnson said the Rough Riders keyed on Lucerne Valley’s dive and toss plays.

“We took away their best two plays and said if you’re going to beat us, you’re going to have to beat us with something else,” Johnson said.

Meanwhile, CMI moved the ball with ease, getting a pair of touchdown passes from freshman quarterback Jefferson Brown and three TD runs from senior tailback Austin Cooper.

The Rough Riders came close to adding two more touchdowns, but the Mustangs’ Isaac Aguilar and Daniel Stratton each came up with interceptions near the goal line.

See the accompanying Homecoming notebook for Homecoming winners and other details about the week’s events.

CMI 14 8 13 7 — 42
LV 0 0 0 0 — 0

First Quarter
C – Mejia 9 pass from Brown (Ramirez kick)
C – Mejia 43 run (Ramirez kick)
Second Quarter
C – Blackmon 1 pass from Brown (Blackmon pass from Mejia)
Third Quarter
C – Cooper 1 run (run failed)
C – Cooper 45 run (Ramirez kick)
Fourth Quarter
C – Cooper 15 run (Ramirez kick)

Kris Reilly can be reached at editor@lucernevalleyleader.com or at (760) 248-7878