Spring Valley tosses shutout to take Banner Game against Bonanza

By Taylor Bern

Friday, Sept. 5, 2014 | 11:30 p.m.

Following a 19-6 loss to Moapa Valley High last week, Spring Valley High coach Marcus Teal was looking for more balance and consistency from his defense. It’s fair to say he got that in the team’s home opener.

Spring Valley blanked rival Bonanza High 41-0 for its first victory of the year, jumping on top early and then controlling the game from there.

“Our defense wanted to make a statement,” Teal said.

Junior Marcus Dawson got things started with two big touchdown runs. Then it was Michael Bianco’s turn to find paydirt, and Teal said he was happy with junior Raheem Edmonds’ efforts running the ball as well.

“We scored on an interception return and we had great running from our trio of running backs,” Teal said.

The secondary was Spring Valley’s concern last week, so they came in looking to shore that up while not losing too much pressure up front to stop the running game. With a few exceptions, that’s what they got.

And that performance combined with the running success was more than enough for Spring Valley to run away with the Banner Game.

“I think I can say we had it from the get go,” Teal said. “… To get a shutout against your rival, that’s pretty special. I’d be lying if I said we were looking to do that.”

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.