Mountain View limits mistakes for first win of season, a 21-0 defeat over Heritage

Just like last week, the Mountain View football team walked into the locker room at halftime Thursday with a two-score lead in hand.

Yet after the Thunder watched their lead evaporate in the second half of an eventual 36-33 loss to Prairie six days prior, it was fair to wonder, would they broach the subject before coming out for the second half Thursday against Heritage?

“Definitely,” Mountain View coach Sean McDonald said. “Just playing smart football, that was the big thing. Throttling down when you’re up and not letting up, because I think last week we did let up a little bit. I think the guys kind of saw that and we learned from it over the week.”

Lesson learned the hard way for the Thunder.

Mountain View claimed its first win of the season in a 21-0 triumph over Heritage at McKenzie Stadium to move to 1-1 in the 3A Greater St. Helens League with a matchup against Shelton on deck next week.

The Thunder slammed the door shut on a potential second-half Heritage comeback after Dylan Huber scored on a 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to take a three-score lead. Then, they leaned on a stout defense that barely gave an inch by forcing four straight three-and-outs and a turnover on downs in the second half.

“Each week we’ve been getting better, so we just came in knowing we got to work together,” senior running back and linebacker Jaden Brown said.

“We kept telling each other, keep the foot on the pedal, keep giving it 100 every play.”

Mountain View (1-5, 1-1) appeared to be on the verge of a breakthrough after playing Mountainside (Ore.) and Prairie down to the wire in recent weeks. The key to finally getting over the hump, according to McDonald, was cutting down on self-inflicted mistakes, including penalties.

The Thunder made good on that goal during back-to-back scoring drives in the first half, starting with a Huber 37-yard touchdown reception on a short pass in traffic from Cashton Liedtke.

Brown followed with a 1-yard touchdown run early in second quarter to put Mountain View ahead 14-0. The dynamic senior continued to showcase his knack for picking up additional yards after first contact with seven runs gaining more than 10 yards.

“I pride myself to always keep my legs moving,” Brown said. “Don’t stop until I’m taken to the ground.”

Brown finished with 170 rushing yards on 23 carries, his sixth straight game with at least 20 carries to open the season.

“My assistant (coaches) want me to spread the carries out a little more,” said McDonald, Mountain View’s first-year coach. “Couldn’t be happier with how he’s played. He’s just a great young man, great leader, he’s getting over 20 carries a game and he’s performing.”

Heritage (3-3, 0-2) had its share of big plays in the first half, but ultimately came up empty against a scrappy Mountain View defense.

In the second quarter, Mountain View’s Andres-Jose Villanueva made a touchdown-saving tackle on Dakari Bradford’s 80-yard reception from Owen Daley, moving the Timberwolves to the 2-yard line. But following a Dallas Hobbs tackle for loss and Brown sack, Heritage was forced to settle for a 32-yard field goal that missed wide left.

“We rallied to the ball,” Brown said. “We haven’t been doing that in past weeks.”

Then with under a minute left in the half, a muffed Mountain View punt gave Heritage possession on the Thunder 27-yard line. The next play, Huber intercepted a Heritage pass to the end zone.

In the second half, Mountain View’s defensive line with the likes of Xavier Frazier, Florian Bernani, Rylan Reinebach and Juan Pasillas-Stanton wreaked havoc with five negative plays against Heritage.

“They were getting a lot of pressures,” Brown said. “Our defense, we held off the receivers (and) we just let the linemen work.”

After the game, the Thunder didn’t take for granted the feeling of winning after five weeks without one. Now they’re hungry for more.

“It feels good, but it ain’t over yet,” Brown said. “We got to keep pushing, take this momentum, wash it tomorrow and focus on the next week.”

MOUNTAIN VIEW 21, HERITAGE 0

Mtn. View 7 7 7 0—21

Heritage 0 0 0 0—0

First quarter

MV — Dylan Huber 37 pass from Cashton Liedtke (Charlie Hill kick)

Second quarter

MV — Jaden Brown 1 run (Hill kick)

Third quarter

MV — Huber 5 run (Hill kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING —Mountain View: Jaden Brown 22-170, Dallas Hobbs 4-27, Cashton Liedtke 1-(minus 12), Dylan Huber 2-5, Christiaan Meushaw 4-12; Heritage: Kahni Clark 7-(minus 12), Shacarion Wrencher 3-10, Owen Daley 4-(minus 17), Joshua Mitchell 4-(minus 19).

PASSING — Mountain View: Cashton Liedtke 12-25-1-127; Heritage: Owen Daley 5-12-1-130, Joshua Mitchell 6-9-0-52.

RECEIVING — Mountain View: Dylan Huber 5-75, Tarren Taylor 1-10, Kingston McPherson 3-23, Dallas Hobbs 1-9, Jack Fournier 1-12; Heritage: Jackson Graham 2-47, Dakari Bradford 4-109, Jacob Karpyuk 1-0, Shacarion Wrencher 1-0, Delo Holmes 1-4, Luke Melvin 1-22, Kahni Clark 1-0.