Mountain View has its game going against Heritage

The running game clicked, the passing game made big plays, and the special teams made special plays as the Mountain View Thunder earned an emphatic 45-3 win over Heritage on Friday at McKenzie Stadium.

The tone was set on the opening kickoff, when the Thunder recovered a Heritage fumble to take possession at the Timberwolves’ 24. Five plays later, Riley O’Dell started his big night with a quarterback sneak for a touchdown, and the Thunder (3-1) never looked back in the nonleague win.

O’Dell had five first-half touchdowns. He scored three of those with his feet and two of them with his left arm.

The passing touchdowns covered 51 yards to Sterling Reynolds and 68 yards to Mark Hartley and helped the quarterback net 126 passing yards on only three completions.

Eight ball carriers contributed for Mountain View. Eddie Richardson had 68 yards in the first half, Justin Rinta finished with 67 yards and as touchdown, and Reynolds finished with 50 yards on the ground.

All of the good news for Mountain View was tempered by what appeared to be a significant leg injury for Mountain View sophomore Brad Hansen that delayed the game for a half hour. He was injured while helping to tackle Heritage’s Gage Boyce.

The injury happened with 9.9 seconds left in the first half. Officials sent the teams to the locker room for halftime while Hansen was tended to.

Heritage (1-3) moved the ball at times, but couldn’t sustain drives. Mountain View’s Russell Culverwell intercepted two passes and the Thunder defense made five takeaways in addition to the blocked punt.

Heritage starting quarterback Joseph Cooper threw for 124 yards and ran for a team-best 38 yards.

Heritage 0 3 0 0— 3

Mountain View 14 21 3 7—45

First quarter

MV — Riley O’Dell 1 run (Chavo Camargo kick)

MV — Sterling Reynolds 51 pass from O’Dell (Camargo kick)

Second quarter

MV — O’Dell 1 run (Camargo kick)

MV — Mark Hartley 68 pass from Riley O’Dell (Camargo kick)

Her — Gage Boyce 23 FG

MV — O’Dell 11 run (Camargo kick)

Third quarter

MV — Camargo 33 FG.

Fourth quarter

MV — Justin Rinta 8 run (Camargo kick)

Leaders

Rushing — Heritage — Joseph Cooper 6-38, Gage Boyce 6-18, Rajheem Carrie 3-8, Nate Jenkins 2-1. Mountain View — Eddie Richardson 12-68, Sterling Reynolds 10-50, Justin Rinta 9-67, O’Dell 4-33, Connor Atchison 4-35, Christian Alviar 5-30, Michael Nadig 2-2, Justin Powser 1-2.

Passing — Heritage — Joseph Cooper 15-26-3-124, Loren Standiford 3-5-0-42. Mountain View — Riley O’Dell 3-4-0-126.

Receiving — Heritage — E’lon Mack 7-73, Rajheem Carrie 6-52, Tanner Ulsh 1-5, Michael Quintana 1-8, Austin Fuller 1-16, Mitchell Heng 1-0, Cooper 1-12. Mountain View — Reynolds 1-51, Hartley 2-75.