The Pierce College football team defeated crosstown rivals Los Angeles Valley College 24-6 Saturday night at Shepard Stadium.
The Brahmas, who now hold a season record of 5-1, triumphed over the Monarchs in front of their Homecoming crowd with a strong passing game and defense.
The victory didn’t come easy after the Brahmas fell behind 6-3 in the first quarter.
“It’s really nice to get the win, especially against Valley,” said sophomore tight end Beau Sandland, who scored his first touchdown of the season. “We’re happy with the way our defense and offense responded.”
Head coach Efrain Martinez praised the defense for their strong play.
“We really did well on defense, we struggled for a second but we really pulled through, they did really well,” Martinez said.
The Monarchs’ offense was not the only problem posed for the Brahmas Saturday night.
“A challenge for the night was definitely the defense,” said freshman wide receiver Tyrin Stone-Davis. “Blitzes were being run all over the place, it wasn’t giving our offense enough time to get the ball off.”
Although the offense scored all the points of the night, the Monarchs defense played hard against the Brahmas.
“We got the win, but there’s thing we need to work on on the offense,” said standout freshman wide receiver Jaelen Strong. “Our line, our receivers, and in addition our quarterback got hurt.”
The defense took care of things for the rest of the game, shutting out the L.A. Valley offense through the last three quarters.
“I believe the defense played the best defense I’ve seen since I’ve been here” said Martinez. “Defense was definitely one of our biggest strengths last night. They played really hard, and made it a really good game.”
Pierce took a 10-6 lead into halftime with their first touchdown by Stone-Davis and extended the lead with a touchdown reception by Sandland in the third quarter.
With the numerous penalties accumulated by the Monarchs, Pierce took advantage of Valle’ys mistakes in order to get ahead.
“We just let them mess themselves up,” Martinez said.
With minimal mistakes on the Brahmas’ part in regards to penalties, the team sealed their win late in the fourth quarter with a 15-yard touchdown reception by Strong.
“That’s something we stressed: penalties. We have to stay under control, control players frustration and we did really well with that last night,” said Martinez. “We expected it to be close, but it was a great game.”
The Brahmas will next face Santa Barbara City College in Santa Barbara on Friday, October 19 at 7 p.m.
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