In its varsity debut Saturday night, Pioneer Valley's defense outscored Peter Knight's (Palmdale) offense.

Defensive back Shane Vogt returned an interception 76 yards for a touchdown, and the Panthers grounded the Hawks' attack as Pioneer Valley won its first varsity football game 13-0 at Pioneer Valley High School. The game was the Hawks' season opener as well.

Knight is a third-year school. Like the Panthers, the Hawks have no seniors. The oldest players on each team are juniors. Pioneer Valley played its first game in its new stadium.

Besides Vogt's touchdown and Gabriel Nunez's extra point, the Panthers' other points came on Nunez's 33 and 31-yard field goals.

With Pioneer Valley clinging to a 6-0 lead late in the third quarter and the Hawks parked on the Panthers' 28-yard line, Knight quarterback Michael Solano threw to Gillonni Green in the right flat. Vogt cut in front of Green, grabbed the pass and was off for the Panthers' first varsity score.

Vogt crossed the goal line for the historic touchdown with 2:04 left in the third period.

"We worked on that play (as a defense) during practice," Vogt said. "(Solano) threw to the guy in the flat. That's my area, and I got the ball."

Advertisement

Vogt also intercepted a pass in the Hawks' first series of the second half. Panthers defensive back Steve Rucobo extinguished Knight's last flicker of hope when he picked off Solano's pass at the Pioneer Valley 47 with 1:33 left in the game.

Nunez scored Pioneer Valley's first points when his field goal try went high and dead center between the uprights with 2:04 left in the first quarter.

"My kicking in practice went pretty well," Nunez, who said his field goal attempts felt good when he struck the ball, said.

Vogt said the Panthers weren't thinking shutout as the game went along.

"We were just trying to stop 'em. They have a lot of size, and their back (5-5 Terrel Merritt) is pretty shifty. We were just trying to keep from making a mistake at the end of the game."

"This team averaged 37 points a game last year, so to shut a team out like that is a credit to these guys," Pioneer Valley coach Greg Dickinson said.

After the game, the celebrating Panthers did not seem to care that they had not scored a touchdown on offense. The bottom line for them was they prevailed in their first-ever varsity game - and with a defensive shutout to boot.

"The kids were all amped up to play at home in front of their fans and under the lights," Dickinson said. "They've been working hard. Athlete for athlete, that (Knight) team is pretty talented. And they were bigger than we were."

Angel Guerrero, a 6-2, 245-pound defensive lineman, helped the Panthers' front line overcome a considerable size disadvantage.

The Panthers' front four got a consistently good push on the snap, and linebackers Daniel Segoviano, Chris Etheridge, Steven Esquivel and Josh Vogt swarmed quickly toward ballcarriers on running plays.

"That was a big key for us - gang tackling," Shane Vogt said.

The Panthers kept the Hawks from scoring even though Merritt ran for a total of 91 yards on 15 carries. The Hawks were just 5-for-19 passing. Panthers defensive backs Shane Vogt, Bryan Beyers, Buddy Garcia and Zev Olvera had consistently good coverage on the Hawks' receivers.

Several promising Knight drives wound up being fruitless. Luis Castaneda missed a 32-yard field goal try in the second quarter. Solano's fourth down pass from the seven with less than a minute left before halftime was incomplete.

With the Hawks driving, Vogt made his big interception and then sprinted in for the score. In the fourth quarter, Adrian Heredia and Aaron Hernandez stopped Calvin Reed for no gain on fourth-and-one from the Pioneer Valley 20. The Hawks had started the drive on their own 3.

The Panthers had a balanced rushing attack. Etheridge, who had a 54-yard run, led Pioneer Valley's rushers with a total of 72 yards on a 11 carries. Garcia had 69 yards on 11, and Josiah Morales racked up 50 yards. Morales, too, carried 11 times.

Dickinson said afterward his team had made do with crimps in its passing game.

"Kevin Rucker got hurt (returning the opening) kickoff. He's one of our favorite guys to throw too. Bryan got his bell rung a little bit, so his action at quarterback was limited."

The Panthers play at home at 7 p.m. Friday against Kilpatrick of Malibu, a reform school for boys.

Sept. 4, 2005