Amelburu helps Green Valley bounce back at Coronado

By Jesse Granger

Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015 | 12:50 a.m.

There are some nights when a quarterback is just in the zone, and there’s nothing a defense can do to stop him.

Friday was one of those nights for Green Valley signal caller A.J. Amelburu.

Amelburu completed his first 14 passes of the game for 215 yards and two touchdowns. That’s a perfect passer rating of 158.3 if calculated under NFL rules.

He finished the game 23-of-29 for 321 yards and three touchdowns as Green Valley left division rival Coronado in the dust 28-10.

Many of Amelburu’s passes were easy bubble screens to the sidelines, where his talented arsenal of wide receivers made the defenders look foolish and Amelburu’s stat line impressive.

“We are just trying to get our guys the ball in space and keep it simple,” Green Valley coach Brian Castro said. “Those guys were fortunate to get some good blocks to move the chains.”

Coronado’s defense struggled to adjust to the Gators’ attack, getting gashed along the sidelines throughout the night.

“(The defenders) were playing way off, and with their ability they can run forever and break tackles,” Amelburu said. “They are incredible. It’s a mismatch every time.”

Sophomore receiver Marquez Powell got the bulk of the work, catching eight passes for 126 yards and a touchdown.

“I have to give a shout out to all of our receivers and the pulling guards,” Powell said. “They all blocked really well tonight.”

Amelburu also found Christian Mayberry seven times for 68 yards — all in the first half — and Isaiah Macklin caught four passes for 87 yards and a touchdown.

“We don’t always want our quarterback to have to keep us in the game like that,” Castro said. “We need to run the football, but he stepped up when we needed him to. It was exciting to see.”

The Gators were stifled on the ground, gaining only one yard of rushing offense in 20 attempts in the first half.

Green Valley finished the game with 68 yards on the ground, 27 of which came on a key scramble by Amelburu in the third quarter to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Brendan Dixon-Whittle.

The score extended the Gators’ lead to 21-10 and put the game out of reach for the struggling Cougars.

While Coronado did find success through the air — Landen Rowland completed 11-of-27 for 214 yards — the Cougars couldn’t get out of their own way.

On the drive in which Green Valley took a 21-10 lead, the Cougars forced a punting situation before giving the Gators an automatic first with a penalty for having 12 men on the field.

Later, running back Sean Slayton broke into the open field and appeared to be headed for an easy touchdown, but instead ran into the back of a referee and was tackled at the Gators’ 37-yard line. The Cougars went on to turn the ball over on downs.

Da’Quan Davis led the Cougars with three catches for 112 yards, with star tight end Travis Bowman out with an injury. Bowman suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left foot and will miss the rest of his senior year for Coronado, but is expected to make a full recovery.

Following the loss to Basic in the Henderson Bowl, the Gators were in desperate need of a win. To get one over another division rival on the road makes it that much sweeter.

“It’s a lot of fun to be a part of these games, and now two weeks in a row we have been fortunate enough to be in them,” Castro said. “Our fans do a great job of supporting us and we appreciate it.”

The fans may have supported the team a little too much Friday night. Following the final buzzer, Green Valley’s student section rushed the field, and ran a victory lap around the track — prompting flying water bottles from the Coronado stands.

“It feels great to get a win in this environment,” Powell said. “We felt we were doubted coming into this game with our record the way it is, but I felt like we showed ourselves tonight and we have two more weeks of football until playoffs and I think we got it.”

Jesse Granger can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Jesse on Twitter at twitter.com/JesseGranger_.