Valley Center parade stuns Wolf Pack homecoming crowd

By ECS Staff
Updated: September 26, 2015

TRyan Photography photo

By James McHugh

© East County Sports.com

SANTEE (9-25-15) — Homecoming is a memorable moment each high school season. Kings and Queens are crowned, the bands and pageantry take center stage and the visiting team is usually an afterthought. Valley Center welcomed itself to the Smurf Turf in Santee on Friday night (Sept. 25) since West Hills had red carpets to roll out for its own show.

TRyan Photography photo

Unfortunately for the Wolf Pack, the visiting Jaguars were only interested in playing football and it showed, quickly. The first defensive stop for the Wolf Pack came on Valley Center’s fourth possession of the first half. By that time the Jaguars’ QB Rhett Reilly had connected on three of four passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns. Valley Center plopped 21 points on the board with just nine offensive plays from scrimmage over those three possessions.

The Wolf Pack offense was not clicking quite as effectively in the early going, but managed a long strike of their own when SPENCER MOYER connected with TYLER SEPULVEDA for a 70-yard score to make the game 6-7 in the early going. The West Hills point after failed after a false start caused a longer kick to move wide right. Just before the half Moyer capped a 10 play 50-yard drive, finding JUSTIN HANCOCK for a 9-yard connection but the two point conversion failed and West Hills trailed 21-12 headed to the break. Moyer would finish with 215 yards passing on the evening, 70 of those coming on the Sepulveda touchdown. No other Wolf Pack receiver would grab more than two receptions on the night.

Things looked promising for the Pack after the half. The West Hills Alumni and others had filled the home bleachers to capacity and beyond. The Black & Blue Crew (The West Hills student section) was loud and ready for action. The Blue & Black Brigade (The West Hills Band) had the fans into the game. Momentum seemed like it was ready to swing the Wolf Pack way.

TRyan Photography photo

The Jaguars played party crashers once more, eating up six minutes of the third quarter on a 14 play 75-yard drive that ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Reilly to Brock Moffitt. Moffitt finished with just four catches on the night but they were good for 79 of Reilly’s 278 passing yards and two of the Jaguars’ four receiving touchdowns.

West Hills quickly gave the ball back to Valley Center, going three and out on the first of just two, third quarter possessions. Valley Center turned right around and ate up an additional three minutes on their way to their fifth touchdown of the night. Andrew Navarro carried the ball five times for 55 yards on the drive for the Jaguars. Navarro finished with 69 yards on 10 carries. Valley Center led 35-12 heading to the fourth quarter.

Neither team mounted a serious scoring threat in the final frame. Valley Center did commit the game’s first turnover when TANNER SUTTON picked up a loose ball for the Pack but the ensuing drive failed to yield any points for the hosts. West Hills ended the evening with a Hollywood themed court, fireworks and plenty of pictures flashing from every corner of the stadium, but the team on the field will likely soon forget Homecoming 2015.

West Hills drops to 2-3 on the season and heads across East County next week to face a red hot Valhalla team that has won three straight since losing in the opening week of the season to Otay Ranch.