MidValleySports.Com

By Tony Solorzano

(Bellflower) – Four touchdowns from senior running backs Deonte and Devonte Dixon helped lead Paramount to a 42-28 victory over Bellflower Friday night at Ron Yary Stadium.

A win tonight in the “Glory Days” rivalry game was important to the Pirates (1-1,. 0-0) who were coming off a three-point loss to Los Alamitos in week one, something Pirate coach Matt Howard knew going into the night.

“It always feels good to win your cross-town rivals,” said head coach Howard after hoisting the trophy with his team. “We knew we had a chance to win if we didn’t make too many mistakes.”

The Buccaneers (1-2, 0-0) relied on the strength of running back Ryan Hunley, who scored three times to keep the Bucs in the game. Hunley put the Bucs on the board on the third play of the game, a 76-yard run with 10:16 left in the first.

But the Pirates scored on their next four possessions to take a commanding lead late into the second. Deonte Dixon scored the first of his two first half touchdowns midway through the first with a 6-yard run, capping a nine-play, 72-yad drive. On their next possession, Dixon closed out an 80-yard drive with a 41-yard run, putting the Pirates up 14-7 with 3:01 left in the first quarter.

Quarterback Lamont Odom added to the score early in the second quarter, carrying the ball in from six yards out. The Pirates’ next score came on a fumble by Devonte Dixon. Dixon took the ball four yards out from the end zone but as he reached the goal line, he fumbled the ball into the end zone. However, lineman Edgar Rodriguez managed to pounce on the ball to preserve the score, giving the Pirates a seemingly insurmountable 28-7 lead with 3:16 left in the half.

But the Buccaneers responded on their next two possessions, getting back into the game in the span of one minute. First, Hunley scored for the second time, an 80-yard score with 3:05 left. On the ensuing possession, the Buccaneer defense forced a fumble and gained the ball on the Pirates’ 42. On the first play, quarterback Swain Williams hit Andrew Gose for the 42-yard score, closing the gap to 28-21 with 2:09 left in the half.

But the scoring deluge wasn’t done as Devonte redeemed his earlier fumble by capping a 40-yard drive with a one-yard score with five seconds left, sending the teams into Halftime with the Pirates up 35-21.

The teams would exchange scores at the start of the third to close out the scoring. After getting the ball to start the quarter, Deonte scored his third touchdown of the game, a seven-yard run with 10:16 left in the quarter. The score was set up by a 47-yard run by Lovell Majied that put the ball on the Pirates’ 10-yard line.

But Hunley kept the Buccaneers close as he used five carries on the Bucs’ first possession of the quarter to move the ball 80 yards, capping the drive with a breakaway score from mid-field with 7:44 left.

The Bucs had one more opportunity to score in the fourth quarter. After forcing the Pirates to punt from mid-field, Hunley and Williams started to engineer a driven from their own 18 yard line. The Bucs reached the Pirates’ four-yard line, but their drive ended with 5:20 left in the game as Williams attempted a quarterback keeper on fourth-and-goal from the four and could only get a yard on the play. Paramount would take the ball on the three and run out the remainder of the clock.

Despite the loss, Hunley gained 350 yards on 28 carries and scored three times for the Bucs. Williams connected on five passes for 71 yards, scoring one touchdown. Gose caught three passes from Swain for 52 yards, including the touchdown. For the Pirates, the Dixon Brothers combined for 230 yards, 126 for Deonte on 17 carries and 104 for Devonte on 11 carries, and four touchdowns, Odom threw seven completions for 116 yards, hitting Junior Gallardo four times for 61 yards.