Week 6 of the high school football season is in the books and this Friday featured rivalry games, some lopsided wins and hefty dose of bye weeks.
But even with five teams taking the weekend off, it wasn't hard to find the five most interesting things that happened in Week 6, and here they are.
Yucca Valley regains form, retains Bell
Yucca Valley made a loud statement to the rest of the valley on Friday and that statement was: "Don't forget about us!"
After starting the year 0-4 including a humbling setback to Desert Christian Academy, the Trojans have righted the ship and then some. First they beat DEL foe Xavier Prep and then on Friday night that laid a whooping on their High Desert rivals Twentynine Palms.
The Trojans scored early often and in every way as they won the Battle of the Bell
game 63-3. Wow! Six different guys scored for Yucca Valley and superstar Aiden Pope crossed the goal line four different times on three TD receptions and one TD run.
Everyone's a winner
Just like how the 1972 Miami Dolphins still pop champagne whenever the last undefeated NFL team loses, I like to pop champagne on this night every year. With Coachella Valley's victory over Indio on Friday that means all 14 desert teams have tasted victory at least once this year. That always makes me happy as these players and coaches put in all that work in the hot summer months, and to have that feeling of victory at least once makes it all worth it. It's factual and not trite to say, congratulations desert football players, you're all winners.
No drama for DHS, and that's fine
The Golden Eagles had played five games heading into Friday's road game against AB Miller, and four of those games were decided by one score or less. They have an 8-point win, a 5-point win, a 4-point loss and a 6-point loss in those games.
Coach Roy Provost may not have known what to do with himself on Friday as the Golden Eagles' offense and defense were in total control on the way to an easy, breezy 48-0 win over AB Miller in Fontana. Quarterback Jaylen Turner threw for a touchdown and ran for two more. Caleb Davis stepped in at running back and ran for two scores. Dominic Ambal had a TD run and Ezekiel Sanchez got his first varsity touchdown with a run.
La Quinta's gauntlet is over, will they see the payoff?
To use a metaphor from a different sport, La Quinta uses its non-league schedule like a baseball player in the on-deck circle uses the weighted donut. You take a bunch of swings with that heavy weight on the bat, so that when it really matters everything seems lighter, faster and easier. La Quinta fell to 1-4 on the season with a 33-20 loss at Roosevelt. That's four hard-fought losses in games they were the underdog and one lopsided win over Yucca Valley.
Coach Ruiz believes a battle-tested team is the way to go, and now he will see the fruits of that labor. It all starts Friday with the first DEL game against Shadow Hills. There is logic to the strategy, but we'll find out for sure if it works, starting now.
Desert Mirage with a historic win
Desert Mirage took down San Gorgonio 42-18 on Friday using a balanced attack that saw Gabriel Huante (2 and 20 yards) and Alonzo Hernandez-Garcia (10 and 40 yards) both rush for two touchdowns while Gary Baza caught a 3-yard TD pass and Pablo Marcelo added a 5-yard TD run.
Why was the win significant? It moved the Rams to 4-1 on the season and no Desert Mirage team in school history since their first varsity season in 2005 has ever been 4-1. Quite an accomplishment by coach Jesus Felipe and his talented team.
Shad's nugget of the week: DVL dominance
There are four Desert Valley League teams. They combined to score 194 points on Friday night. They combined to yield 10 points. You don't have to be a math wizard to know that's pretty good. The four DVL teams — Yucca Valley, Banning, Desert Hot Springs and Coachella Valley — went 4-0 this week with scores of 63-3, 55-0, 48-0 and 28-7. That's setting the stage nicely for a couple weeks from now when they start playing each other. Talk about must-see action.
Records check
- 5-0: Desert Christian Academy
- 4-1: Rancho Mirage, Desert Mirage
- 4-2: Desert Hot Springs
- 3-2: Palm Desert
- 3-3: Indio
- 2-3: Palm Springs
- 2-4: Twentynine Palms, Yucca Valley
- 1-4: La Quinta, Shadow Hills, Xavier Prep, Coachella Valley
- 1-5: Cathedral City
Look ahead to Week 7, DEL play begins
Friday, Oct. 2
- Palm Desert at Rancho Mirage
- Palm Springs at Xavier Prep
- La Quinta at Shadow Hills
- Cathedral City at Yucca Valley
- Desert Hot Springs at Indio
- Desert Mirage at Calipatria
- Coachella Valley at Southwest EC
- Ontario Christian at Desert Christian Academy
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: The 5 most important things that happened in Week 6 of high school football
