Downey football shows toughness as it storms past Notre Dame

DOWNEY – Downey football coach Jack Williams said that the Vikings’ season opener would determine what kind of football team his group would be.

Turns out, it’s a pretty darn tough one.

Downey’s physical presence up front established a rough-and-tumble run game, set up the passing attack and put pressure in Notre Dame’s backfield all night, as the Vikings stormed out to a 42-21 victory on Friday at Downey High School.

Downey (1-0) will be at home next week, against Orange Vista, and Notre Dame (0-1) will host Bishop Diego.

Downey came out firing on both sides of the ball.

The Vikings burst straight up the middle to pressure Washington State-committed senior quarterback Steele Pizzella right into their edge containment and forced a three-and-out.

On its first offensive play, Purdue-committed junior quarterback Oscar Rios uncorked a ball over the top to sophomore Damani Porras, who finished off the 45-yard touchdown pass, and the Vikings were off.

Rios was dynamic with 205 yards passing with three touchdowns in the air and another 104 yards and a score on the ground.

Downey rode that line pressure on its next drive, as senior running back Bernardo Blanco shouldered the majority of the drive. Rios capped the drive with a 3-yard slant to Desmin Joshway-Fairley for a 13-0 Vikings lead.

The story of the night for Notre Dame was thrown-away opportunities.

The Knights were driving for an early answer but fumbled in Vikings territory. It was the first of three probable scoring opportunities lost for Notre Dame, including a dropped deep pass and two second-half scores called back on penalties.

Notre Dame did get an impact play on the ensuing drive, as junior Max Martin-Beckmann negated Downey’s scoring chance with an interception in the end zone.

After opening the drive with that dropped-touchdown chance, Notre Dame strung together a 17-play drive to march 80 yards down the field. Pizzella got Notre Dame on the board with a 7-yard scrambling strike to senior Elliot Cooper.

However, that was the closest Notre Dame would come to Downey the rest of the night.

Downey responded with a near-perfect two-minute drill on the arm and legs of Rios. On fourth-and-goal, Blanco pounded in a 1-yard score with two seconds remaining in the first half.

Blanco finished the game with 108 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns.

Following the 2-point conversion pass from Rios to Porras, Downey led 21-7 at the break.

The Vikings rode the wave of momentum into the second half, as again Rios’ dynamic abilities set up a short Blanco score for a 28-7 Downey lead.

Notre Dame got back on the scoresheet late in the third quarter with a 34-yard bomb down the sideline from Pizzella to senior Tre Fernandez.

Rios rolled out for a three-yard score and connected on a 51-yard rainbow score to Porras in the fourth quarter to cap a successful opening night for the Vikings.

Pizella ran in a 15-yard score late in the fourth quarter.