Valley Christian blanks Modesto Christian, 23-0

For the first time since the first game of the season, Aug. 23, Valley Christian's football team came away winners Thursday night, defeating Modesto Christian, 23-0. It had been a long time coming, but for the first since the first week of the season, Valley Christian played a good game from start to finish and that's what got them the win. Valley Christian turned the ball over four times, but Modesto Christian had six turnovers, which also helped the Lions to their second win of the season against four losses. "We played for all four quarters, and it's been awhile since we've done that," Valley Christian head coach Doug Williams said. The Lions were led primarily by two players, quarterback and linebacker Connor Tinker, and safety Riley Garcia. Tinker ran for the team's first and final touchdowns, and also played a heck of a game at linebacker, as he was in on several tackles. Garcia, meanwhile, intercepted four passes on defense. "Connor works really hard, and he's really focused," Williams said. "His results are the results of all his hard work. "We knew through scouting that picks were a high probability. Riley does a really good job at free safety of reading the quarterback and breaking on the ball." Garcia had four of his team's six interceptions, as Jackson Hays and Aiden Johnson had the two others. "We needed this win so badly," Garcia said. "We've been struggling all year with our intensity. We come out strong and then in the third and fourth quarters we just crash. It was good to see us maintain that intensity throughout the game. "That was the key to the win, along with us taking advantage of their mistakes. I'd never had four interceptions in a game. That is more than my freshman and sophomore years combined." Tinker also said the win was much needed. "We needed a win a lot," Tinker said. "It's nice to see our hard work come out and pay off with a win. I like playing quarterback and leading the team. Our offensive line was firing off. I threw a pick so I screwed up there, but our defense made up for it. Everyone did their jobs and no one screwed up." Added Garcia, "We made some mistakes on defense, but overall we defended the pass well. We need to work on our open field tackling, but I'm sure we'll do that in practice." Valley Christian managed two scores in between Tinker's two touchdown runs. Beau Porter scored on a two-yard run in the second quarter, while Jeremiah Pritchard booted a 25-yard field goal in the second quarter. Next Friday, Valley Christian will face Elite (3-0 in league, 4-2 overall). "We have to prepare and we have to want to win," Tinker said. "If everyone does their job and we have no screw-ups, then I think we can win."