Paloma Valley debuts new stadium design, but team loses

A capacity crowd on the home side watches Paloma Valley's home opener against the purple background of a sunset. Menifee 24/7 photo by Doug Spoon

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Fans of Paloma Valley High School football couldn't celebrate what was on the scoreboard Friday night, but there was plenty of enthusiasm about what was going on behind it.

Although the Wildcats were dominated by visiting Murrieta Valley in a 59-14 loss, there was a buzz among the estimated crowd of 4,000 about improvements that have given the facility a true stadium feel. The area behind the north end zone, which previously was an open field behind the scoreboard, is now a new entrance plaza with a large structure housing ticket windows and separate concession windows and restrooms for home and visitors.

These improvements were designed to address the lack of adequate concession and restroom facilities on the visitors side and create a single point of entry for fans of both sides. Fans park in the student parking lot and enter separate gates on either side of the ticket windows, with home fans walking behind the building and passing through a small plaza en route to the home stands.

Ryan Sharp, Paloma Valley's athletic director, said the improvements also allow school officials to close off the back entrance on the home side of the stadium, which previously required fans to walk through part of the campus, requiring additional security at that point.

Fans begin to line up at the new concessions building before the start of Friday night's game.

How did the first event go? Well, except for the result on the field and a couple glitches in the new stadium design, Sharp said things went well.

"We're very happy with the improvements and we can see the benefits," Sharp said. "We did learn from tonight. There are a couple areas where we need to fix things. The biggest complaint was the long line at the ticket windows. We will definitely have two or three times more ticket sellers next week."

Although the concession building is spacious and caters to fans of both sides, it has only two ticket windows built into the entrance. Sharp said staff will bring out tables and additional personnel to sell more tickets faster next Friday, when the Wildcats are home again to play King High School.

Sharp said the flow of fans around and past the entrance building was good, and he liked the way the home side of the building served as a gathering place for Paloma Valley students.

"They can still watch the game from here but they can get food and it's sort of a gathering and social spot," he said.

On the field, the Wildcats' record fell to 0-2 when they got off to a slow start and never recovered. A strong Murrieta Valley team, moving behind a big and experienced offensive line, scored the first three times it had the ball and led 21-0 before 10 minutes had been played.

Playing in their season opener, the Nighthawks drove 75 yards on the first possession of the game, using strong blocking and the running talents of senior Corie Johnson, who rushed for 70 yards on that drive alone. Taliq Brown capped off the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.

Paloma Valley quarterback Blake Hauser fumbled on fourth down on the Wildcats' first series and Murrieta Valley recovered. That led to a 68-yard MVHS scoring drive capped by Emilio Valencia's 21-yard TD run. The Nighthawks got the ball back via a punt four plays later and quarterback Brandon Rose connected with Brown on a 50-yard touchdown pass.

Things only got worse for the outmanned Wildcats from there. The Nighthawks' Johnson ran for 225 yards and a touchdown. Murrieta Valley compiled more than 400 yards total offense by halftime, when the score was 38-7.

Paloma Valley's only two touchdowns came on a 9-yard run by Cody Cerasaro in the second quarter and a 3-yard run by Ajani Mendoza in the fourth quarter.

Cody Cerasaro finds some running room in the first quarter for the Paloma Valley Wildcats.