Maddox runs for 326 yards, 4 TDs in Paloma's victory

Corey Maddox had a big night for Paloma Valley Friday night, running for 326 yards and 4 touchdowns in a 59-7 victory. Photo by Kristi Jo Aguirre

By Daniel Millhouse

If there’s one complaint that could be made about Paloma Valley High School's football performance Friday night, it's that they kept scoring way too quickly.

Despite only having possession of the ball for 10 minutes and 41 seconds, the Wildcats put together 643 total yards and outscored Temecula Valley, 59-7.

"What they give us, we take it," said Paloma Valley coach Bert Esposito about the quick scores. "They played some cover zero and we take it. We really just respond to what teams are doing."

The ground game for Paloma Valley was just too much for the Golden Bears to handle. Running back Corey Maddox ran the ball 18 times for 326 yards and 4 touchdowns, and that was mostly in the first three quarters of the game.

It didn’t take long for the Wildcats to put points on the board. Receiving the opening kickoff of the game after a remarkable pregame showing of The Big Flag, it only took Paloma Valley four plays and 44 seconds to score. Chance Nolan hit Blake Moore for a 30-yard touchdown pass to open the game up at 7-0.

The Wildcat defensive players came out onto the field, fired up and looking to do their part. With big stops by Caiser Leboss and Damian Torres, Temecula Valley’s offense punted the ball to the Wildcats after a three and out.

Within 1 minute and 35 seconds, Paloma Valley put up its second touchdown of the game. This time, on fourth down and seven on the Golden Bears’ 22-yard line, Nolan scrambled away from the oncoming rush to find a wide-open Seth Carvalho in the end zone for a touchdown, putting the Wildcats up 14-0.

Wildcats quarterback Chance Nolan takes off running against the Temecula Valley defense. Photo by Kristi Jo Aguirre

Even with the quick two-score lead, the Paloma Valley defense wasn’t satisfied. After sitting out last week with a knee injury, Steven Bradshaw quickly returned to form by sacking Shane Oberhuber.

The defense fed off the energy of the crowd, showing their dominance on first and second downs. Unfortunately, they had a couple of key personal foul penalties that kept the Golden Bears’ offense on the field. They were aggressive, but let their emotions get the best of them.

"They were in the heat of the moment," Paloma Valley’s Dylan Rodriguez said when he was asked about the personal fouls.

With its drive kept alive by penalties, Temecula Valley drove the ball all the way to Paloma Valley’s red zone. This is when the Golden Bears turned to kicker Spencer Stone to put their first points on the board via a 25-yard field goal. Stone’s kick had the distance, but drifted left of the uprights, keeping the score at 14-0.

Before the first quarter came to an end, Maddox scored his first of four touchdowns on a 28-yard run as time ran out.

Down by three touchdowns, Temecula Valley decided to slow the game down. They tried to run the ball inside, but found that the defensive line of the Wildcats was like a brick wall. Nothing got through, forcing Oberhuber and the rest of the Golden Bears to turn to an option style offense, attempting to run the ball outside more often.

"On film we saw that they ran a lot of the dive, so we checked our inside sets and we ran pinch a lot. We filled the gaps pretty well," defensive lineman Maleek Baranauskas said after the game.

Despite running into trouble, the Golden Bears persevered, scoring their first and only touchdown of the game when Oberhuber hit playmaker Zachary Simon with a 4-yard pass in the end zone. This put the score at 21-7 with six minutes left in the first half.

Once again, it didn’t take long for Paloma Valley to score. On the very first play of their next drive, Maddox flew by the defense, scoring on a 78-yard touchdown run.

Temecula Valley continued to attempt to slow the game down. They managed to knock five minutes off the clock before they were forced to punt the ball back to the Wildcats with 45 seconds left in the half.

Paloma Valley marched the ball 69 yards and wound up on the 15-yard line with less than one second remaining on the clock. They turned to kicker Isaias Valera to boot a 32-yard field as the time expired, giving Paloma Valley a 31-7 lead at the half.

When asked about his defense’s play in the first half, Esposito mentioned the penalties.

"Some personal foul penalties really killed us," Esposito said. "Believe me, I addressed that at halftime. And then we had some guys who were trying to make too many big plays instead of just doing their job, and that fired me up as well."

Paloma Valley offensive linemen work to protect their quarterback and running backs. Photo by Kristi Jo Agurre

Temecula Valley received the ball in the second half, but was unsuccessful in trying to slow down the pace of the game again. With 9:15 on the clock in the third quarter, Paloma Valley regained possession of the ball.

It only took one minute and two seconds for the Wildcats to score again, this time on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Nolan to Carvalho for their second touchdown connection of the night.

Paloma Valley would go on to score two more quick touchdowns within less than two minutes of possession time. Both third-quarter touchdowns were scored on runs by Maddox. The first came after an 11-yard run and the second ca,e on a 9-yard run that was preceded by an 82-yard rush.

By the end of the third quarter, Paloma Valley was up 52-7 and Maddox had 4 touchdowns to show for the night.

"I normally don’t look at that stuff," Maddox said after the game when he was asked about the stats he put up. "It was pretty amazing and I couldn’t have done it without my team. They’re the reason I do what I do."

By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, Paloma Valley gave the reserves and younger players some valuable time on the field. With the clock now continuously running, Paloma Valley added to the score with one more touchdown run, this time by backup Gary Carney on an 18-yard run.

Temecula Valley tried to push the ball into the end zone one last time, but couldn’t. With zero on the clock, Oberhuber was tackled at the 1-yard line, keeping the final score at 59-7.

Outside of Maddox’s impressive performance, other notable Wildcat performances on the offensive side of the ball included Carvalho’s 4 receptions for 133 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Nolan’s 249 yards and 3 touchdown passes while completing 9 out 14 of his attempted passes.

Paloma Valley’s defense had several notable performances as well. Bradshaw had 11 tackles, 2 sacks, and a pass deflection; Baranauskas had 7 tackles and a sack; Leboss had 5 tackles and a sack; Darrick Jordan had 2 sacks; and Terrell Medina contributed with a sack of his own.

Temecula Valley’s Zachary Simon was the standout player for the Golden Bears, catching 10 passes for 119 yards and his team’s only touchdown of the night.

Taking next week off, the Wildcats return to play on Oct 7. They will open up league play at home against the Titans of Temescal Valley (1-3-1).

"I think we’re ready," Rodriguez said confidently after the game when he was asked if the Wildcats were ready for league play. "There are still little adjustments here and there that we need fix, but other than that, I think we’re ready."

Also confident about his team, Baranauskas added, "There’s a lot of improvement to be made everywhere at every position. We have a long way to go to play Wildcat football. Right now we’re doing what we can do, but we gotta long way to go. We’re gonna get there. Expect a 16-week season for us.”