Click Here to see full gallery of North at West by Mark Duffel
BY JOEY MACIAS
The Stars keep shining as North High extends its four-game win streak with a 33-20 win against West High on Friday night.
“We have had a younger team in these last two years,” said North High head coach Norm Brown. “We’re just really excited about being 4-1.”
A blocked punt that was recovered by North High senior Roosevelt Cummings in the beginning of the game put the Stars in prime field position for their first offensive series. North would score on its first offensive play of the game on a 19-yard touchdown run by senior Alex Tejeda to put the Stars up 7-0.
“We feel good (about this game),” said Tejeda “We came into this week practicing hard and coming into this game knowing they’d be a tough team and tough challenge.”
Tejeda would finish with a game-high 113 rushing yards, two touchdowns and average over eight yards per carry.
North High (4-1) was also making plays on the defensive side of the ball as senior Waltravon Lenoir had three interceptions against West (1-3).
“It feels good,” said Lenoir on his stellar performance. “(The team) did good. I’m excited.”
Tejeda was not the only North High player that found success running the ball, junior Brian Dean was also able to help his team preserve the win streak. Dean finished the game with 89 yards on 12 carries and two touchdowns.
“I want to give a big shout out to my (offensive) line because they came to work today,” said Dean. “We just have to keep on working.”
North High was able to get out to an early 20-0 lead against West High following a 33-yard touchdown run by Dean.
The Vikings would get on the board in the second quarter with an 18-yard run by senior Leauauna Laulu Jr. making the score 20-6 with 2:31 left in the second quarter.
A forced fumble and recovery by West High, right before halftime, would keep the Vikings within reaching distance going into the second half.
West High came out and scored on its first drive capping off a 60-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run by Laulu Jr. making the score 20-13. Laulu Jr. would finish the game with 41 yards rushing on five carries.
This would be the closest the Vikings would get to the Stars as North High’s offense would score two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
The longest play of the game came in the fourth quarter as North High senior Titus Liest threw a 69-yard pass to junior Alex Ruvalcaba that would extend its lead to 26-13 with 11:49 left in the game.
Both teams combined for a total of nine passing completions as most of the offensive production came from the running game.
North High will take a week off before defending its win streak and go into league play against Highland High school on Oct. 4.
"We're just looking to obviously control the ball, control the clock, and control the field position and let (Highland) mess it up," said coach Brown.
West High will look to bounce back as they host South High for its Homecoming game on Sept. 27.
Photos by Mark Duffel
