Valley Goes Sour in Strawberry Bowl

NORWALK â€”  In a game that lived to its high-scoring expectations, Long Beach College defeated Valley, 59-49, before about 9,000 Saturday night in the Strawberry Bowl at Cerritos College to probably claim the mythical junior college national championship.

The final polls will be announced this week. Valley entered the game top-ranked nationally by USA Today and Long Beach by the J.C. Grid-Wire. The Monarchs were ranked No. 1 in the state by the J.C. Athletic Bureau and Long Beach was second.

Long Beach (11-0) completed its first undefeated season since 1964, when the Vikings won the Junior Rose Bowl and were national champions.

Valley finished 10-1 for the second consecutive season.

The setback snapped Valley’s 13-game winning streak, which was the longest in the state.

Long Beach rallied behind sophomore Neo Aoga, who completed 19 of 33 passes for 432 yards and three touchdowns. He also scored on runs of two and one yards.

Aoga scored on a one-yard run to break a 42-42 tie with 1:13 left in the third quarter and the Monarchs couldn’t keep up.

The Vikings added a 32-yard field goal by Ryan Downey with 6:13 left in the game and an eight-yard scoring run by Jonathon Russaw with 1:49 left.

Valley could answer only with a one-yard scoring pass from Aaron Flowers to Cameron Perry with 34 seconds left.

The Vikings amassed 616 yards, the most allowed by Valley this season.

On a night when the teams would snap the bowl’s record of combined points set in last year’s inaugural game won by Cerritos over Moorpark, 55-9, the Monarchs drew first blood.

Valley scored on the opening drive, going 69 yards in seven plays to take a 7-0 lead on Marcus Harvey’s eight-yard run.

Valley squandered an opportunity on its next possession after recovering a fumble by Aoga. The Monarchs moved the ball to the Long Beach 15 but wide receiver Josh Gunther fumbled after catching a pass from Flowers and the Vikings recovered.

The Vikings didn’t waste the chance and Shawn Bane tied the score, 7-7, on a one-yard run with 6 minutes 34 seconds to play in the first quarter.

They surged ahead, 14-7, later in the quarter when Aoga, 6 feet 3 and 260 pounds, muscled his way into the end zone on a two-yard keeper on fourth and goal.

The teams exchanged touchdowns in the second quarter, with Valley scoring on passes of seven yards from Flowers to Perry and three yards from Flowers to Willie Perryman, and a one-yard run by Marcel Desir.

Perryman’s score with 24 seconds to play before halftime tied the score, 28-28.

Flowers completed 28 of 50 passes for 394 yards and three touchdowns.

Elijah Raphael gained 106 in 10 carries and scored two touchdowns for Valley, and Harvey had 75 yards in 15 carries and scored a touchdown.