Paloma Valley Excels on Offense and Defense, 42-7

Demarco Prewitt prepares to catch a pass in Paloma Valley's win over Elsinore Friday night. Menifee 24/7 photos: Daniel Millhouse

By Daniel Millhouse

After scoring 55 points against Lakeside High School last week, it might have been easy for the Paloma Valley High School football team to revel in its success and lose focus for its next game. Instead, the Wildcats came out strong again, scoring 42 more points to defeat the Tigers of Elsinore High School Friday night, 42-7.

"We just came together and watched film and had a great week at practice," said Wildcats defensive lineman Connor Gillette. "We killed it this week."

Continuing its success from last week, Paloma Valley (5-2, 2-0) went on a tear in the first half, shutting out Elsinore 35-0 by halftime. Both the offense and defense were running all cylinders, showcasing the weapons the Wildcats have at their disposal. They came out with high energy, often running a no-huddle offense that had Elsinore players on their heels and unable to substitute out their tired players.

Senior running back Demarco Prewitt led the way for his team, scoring 2 touchdowns on the ground (5, 88) and 2 more receiving (53, 17). He ran the ball 6 times for 152 yards and caught 4 passes for 80 more.

Not to be outdone, the defense held Elsinore to only 173 total yards on 45 plays. It wasn’t until late in the third quarter that Elsinore scored for the first time on a 63-yard run by Anthony Reyes. By then, most of the Paloma Valley lineup was backups who still played well, allowing Elsinore only the one score in the second half.

"Coaches prepared us during the week in practice," said junior strong safety Andre Kirkpatrick (left), who had 5 tackles and an interception. "We've been working hard all together as a team. We knew what Elsinore wanted to do. So that’s what we had to do. Shut them out; and they only got seven points on the board."

Coming into the game Paloma Valley had two players leading the Sunbelt League in individual defensive categories. Gillette, leading the league with 8 sacks coming into the game, added one more to his season total. Senior defensive back Blake Bouman entered the game with 6 interceptions and although he didn’t add another one to his season total, he had a tackle behind the line of scrimmage and a touchdown reception from senior Lucas Opp on offense.

"We all know defense wins championships and our defense played lights out tonight," said Paloma Valley coach Bert Esposito. "In the second half we gave up yards, but we were putting in subs already. Our first half, we played very, very well defensively. We’re just getting better and better. We all know that’s what counts."

Paloma Valley had more notable performances on both sides of the ball. On offense, sophomore quarterback Chance Nolan was 9 for 11 for 188 yards passing and 3 touchdowns. Backup quarterback Opp was 4 for 6 for 63 yards passing and 1 touchdown pass. Wide receiver Cameron Whatley caught 3 passes for 40 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter.

On the defensive side of the ball, senior linebacker Nick Rico collected 8 tackles and sophomore linebacker Steven Bradshaw added 7 more.

Next week, Paloma Valley will be on the road to battle it out with the Panthers of Perris High School (3-4, 0-2).

When asked about the Wildcats' opponent next week, Gillette added after the game, "We’re going to come out Monday and have a great week of practice and face a pretty decent Perris team and build on this."

Paloma Valley defensive tackle Connor Gillette takes down Elsinore quarterback Ricky Santiago.

Paloma Valley defensive players surround Elsinore running back Anthony Reyes.

Watching the action from the sidelines: Blake Bouman, Connor Gillette, Demarco Prewitt, Steven Bradshaw, Andrew Ramos.