Green Valley’s offense roars back to life in 53-21 win over Shadow Ridge

By Ric Anderson

Friday, Sept. 12, 2014 | 11:39 p.m.

After going cold last week, Christian Lopez and the Green Valley offense got back on track.

Lopez, the Sun's preseason all-city quarterback, threw for three touchdowns and ran for one more to lead the Gators to a 53-21 victory over Shadow Ridge. Lopez finished with 178 yards in passing and ran for 96 yards as Green Valley recovered from last week's 25-20 defeat at Palo Verde.

"It was really good to see the kids bounce back after the loss," Green Valley coach Brian Castro said.

The game got off to a wild start, with back-to-back kickoff returns for touchdowns. Green Valley would give up another kickoff return for a touchdown in the first quarter.

"To be honest, we weren't really surprised because they returned three (for touchdowns) the week before," Castro said. "But we've got to get better at special teams. We've got to get more consistent in that area."

On the plus side for the Gators, they held the Mustangs without an offensive touchdown until late in the game and got a mix of rushing and passing TDs. In addition, three different receivers caught touchdown passes. Six Gators scored.

"We were a lot more balanced than we had been," Castro said.

Green Valley (2-1) travels to Silverado next week. Shadow Ridge (0-2) faces Desert Oasis.

Ric Anderson can be reached at 702-259-2333 or [email protected]. Follow Ric on Twitter at twitter.com/ricander.