BY ADAM WAYBRIGHT
West High looked to get into the win column after a disappointing offensive performance at Mission Oak last week.
The Vikings did just that at East Bakersfield High School Friday night with a 26-23 win, but the victory did not come easy for the Green & Gold.
After both teams failed to score on their first two drives of the game the Blades received the ball at the EBHS 37 yard line as a result to a poor punt of 10 yards by the Vikings on 4th down.
On the third play of East Bakersfield’s drive, Senior QB William Ball put the Blades on the board first after he connected on a 34-yard deep-post to Gabriel Husein to start the 2nd quarter. The point after would make it 0-7 in the Blades’ favor.
West however, answered the next drive. A direct-snap to Junior Xavier Lopez on 4th down resulted in an 18-yard run and set the Vikings up in enemy territory. The team ended the drive in the end zone after an 8-yard check down pass from QB Danny Zuniga was completed to RB Khaiden Dearmore.
East Bakersfield got the ball back and with 2:34 left in the half gave it right back to the Vikings after a sack and forced fumble by Miguel Luna was recovered by Tyrell Robinson at the EBHS 46 yard line.
And it didn’t take long for West High to capitalize.
On West’s 4th play of the drive, Danny Zuniga connected with Daylon Leach for a 35-yard touchdown to go into the half on top, 13-6.
The party for West didn’t stop there though as Senior Damion Brown bolted out of halftime with an 85-yard kick return for a touchdown to start the 2nd half and make it 20-6.
“Oh man, I felt so good. At first, when I dropped the ball I thought they were going to get me. I just ran it,” Brown said.
Brown felt so good that he decided just two drives later he was going to make a big impact once more by running 35 yards down the Vikings sideline into the end zone to make it a total of 26 unanswered points for West.
East Bakersfield would not go down without a fight, however.
The Blades took only five plays to get back on the scoreboard with a 31-yard completion from William Ball to Senior Michael Rodriguez making it 26-14.
The Senior Duo of Ball and Rodriguez followed up their first act the very next drive with another TD but this time to the tune of 49 yards, cutting the deficit to five points with 6:13 left to play.
West left East with a chance to win the game after a fumble on a 4th down punt put the Blades in scoring position at the Vikings’ 29-yard line. A huge 22-yard reception by Keyshawn Nelson set the Blades up at the 5-yard line but a fumble two plays later was recovered by West’s Daylon Leach.
“It was a huge stop,” West Head Coach Derrick Dunham said. “They didn’t give up.”
West would take an intentional safety in an attempt to get off as much time as possible but left East with enough time to move the ball downfield with a shot to win or tie the game. The Vikings ended East’s hopes at a come from behind victory with an interception by Elijah Munoz to finish the game with a final of 26 to 23.
After his first game as a starting quarterback, West’s Danny Zuniga told everyone what they can expect from the Vikings moving forward.
“You should expect us to work hard. Expect us to not give up on each other.”
West will be off with a bye-week next week.
EBHS will resume play next Friday at Delano.
Photo by David Dennis
