Grijalva Gets Five; Vikings Roll

Elijah Grijalva scores five times for Northview.

Elijah Grijalva scores five times for Northview.

By Tim Peterson

(Covina) – It is fitting that Elijah Grijalva wears number five. It matched his number of touchdowns as he rushed for five, including three in the decisive fourth quarter, as Northview ran over Brentwood 49-21 Thursday night in the first round of the Mid-Valley Division playoffs at Charter Oak High.

The Vikings busted open a close game in the fourth turning a 28-21 game into a four score rout. Northview took advantage of a bad snap that led to a botched punt that set the Vikes up in great field position. They also cashed in on a Brentwood turnover for a score. Nobody cashed in more than Grijalva who scored from one yard, 20 and one yard again in the final quarter. Grijalva teamed up with Alex Camacho to lead a devastating ground attack that simply wore Brentwood out.

Grijalva finished 155 yards overall on 21 carries while Camacho racked up 132 and two touchdowns on 14 rushes. Viking quarterback Steven Comstock only threw the ball once on the second half and five times on the night.

Brentwood quarterback Eli Stern kept the Eagles in the game throwing for 184 yards and a pair of touchdowns and running for 191 and a score. But he was hurt by three picks.

***Brentwood scored first on a 56-yard touchdown run by Stern.

***Camacho got the Vikings even in the first quarter with a 33-yard TD run. He later scored on a nine-yard run to give Northview a 21-14 advantage.

***The Eagles led 14-7 after one when Stern hit Xander Carlson on a 30-yard strike with 2:54 left in the first.

***Grijalva capped a 70-yard Viking drive with an eight-yard run early in the second and then Camacho score again on a nine-yard run to make it 21-14 at the half.

***Grijalva scored his second of the night early in the third on a six-yard rip to make it 28-14 but Brentwood responded with a 19-yard TD pass from Stern to Austin Bleibtreu with 3:52 left in the quarter. The Eagles never scored again.

***Camacho, Andres Hooper and Paul Cooper all intercepted Stern.

***Hooper was the third amigo in the Viking ground game running for 77 yards. Northview had 415 yards on the ground overall.

***Comstock left the game in the third quarter but later returned. “He’s fine, just a little banged up. But he’ll be fine.” said Northview HC Marcel Perez. The Northview trainer said it was muscle spasms.

***”That was our game plan going in. Yeah, just pound the ball,” Perez said.

***”We just ran it down their throat. My offensive line helped me out,” Grijalva said.

***In the second round Northview plays the winner of Montebello- La Puente Friday night.

Leave a Reply