Boccella, a little luck keep Sun Valley on track

ASTON >> Sun Valley coach Ray Gionta understands the importance of getting off to a strong start. After stumbling mightily out of the gate last season with an 0-5 start, the veteran coach knew his team’s confidence would be bolstered if it could achieve success early on in the 2016 campaign.

The Vanguards responded to the challenge to get out of the gates quickly and improved to 2-0 with a 40-25 victory over visiting Pope John Paul II.

“We got off to a rough start last year, so to come out and be 2-0 is nice,” said Gionta, who has accumulated a strong resume through the years, including his memorable stint as the last coach in the history of his alma mater, St. James. “We got off to a good start tonight and did a lot of good things on both sides of the ball in the first half.”

Sun Valley came out blazing behind quarterback Gabe Boccella and maybe even benefitted from a little luck. Boccella ripped off a 38-yard run to get the scoring started just 2:58 into the game, but what happened next seemingly led everyone in attendance to believe that it just might be the Vanguards’ night even early in the game.

On the ensuing kickoff, the line drive boot caromed off of the Golden Panthers’ front line of the kick return team and was recovered by Sun Valley’s Charlie Wendling. It was a bizarre play, but was somehow the perfect precursor for what happened next.

Boccella dropped back for a deep passing attempt and hit Ishy Ahmad for a 40-yard falling, juggling, circus catch. The reception set up a two-yard touchdown run by Wendling (56 yards rushing) and gave Sun Valley a convincing 14-0 advantage.

“I’ve got to give a big shout out to the offensive line because without them we couldn’t do anything,” said Ahmad, who finished the game with two catches for 65 yards. “When I jumped up and started to come down it was almost lucky.”

Later in the first quarter, Boccella, who completed nine of 11 passes for 163 yards on the night, continued his masterful performance by hitting junior tight end James Gines for 19-yard touchdown pass. It was just the kind of showing that Boccella expects from the Vanguards offense.

“The offensive line did a great job and the receivers and backs did a good job of catching the ball,” said Boccella, who added a 66-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter as part of his impressive performance.

Ahmad gave Sun Valley a bigger cushion when he raced 55 yards with a punt return for another Vanguards touchdown and a 27-0 lead just 27 seconds into the second quarter.

“Initially I was calling poison to get everyone away from the ball, but then I saw a big hole so I stepped up, grabbed it, and went for a touchdown,” Ahmad said. “When I went to the sideline the coaches were telling me I was lucky.”

To cap off the first half, Wendling added another touchdown run for a 33-0 Sun Valley lead.

“There’s no bad energy at practice and all of the guys are buying in,” Ahmad said. “Everyone has one main goal and that’s the most important part.”

Boccella also connected with Gines (two catches for 57 yards) again in the fourth quarter to effectively put the game out of reach, despite a furious and persistent comeback attempt from Pope John Paul II.

The Golden Panthers got on the scoreboard with touchdown runs from Matt DeLaurentis and Dan Cirino, along with a scoring pass from DeLaurentis (128 yards passing) to Gunner George.

Cirino willed Pope John Paul II back into the game with his bruising running style. The junior tallied 139 yards on 32 carries, but the Vanguards were just too strong on this night and eventually pulled away for the win.