Prep Football: Browning leads the defense as Victor Valley shuts out Big Bear
Dereith Browning led the way defensively for the Victor Valley in a 14-0 shutout in the season opener Saturday afternoon.
The Jackrabbits, and mostly Browning, were quick to stop Big Bear’s constant run attack.
The Bears attempted just under five passes the entire game, opting to run it on the ground the rest of the time but Browning, a senior, and the rest of the defense were waiting for them.
Browning, a lineman, forced, and recovered, two fumbles.
“Defensive-wise, I think we did great,” Browning said. “We still need improvements but we did great for our first game.”
Offensively, quarterback Isac Cibrian connected with Deshaun Clark for two touchdown passes.
Their first connection came late in the third quarter, and the dagger came midway through the fourth quarter.
In his first game as head coach for Victor Valley, Robert Kistner was pleased with his team’s performance.
Kistner, in his third head coaching stint locally, has stated he didn’t want his first year with the program to be considered a rebuilding year.
Victor Valley returns just three starters from last year, including Browning.
Not thinking too far ahead, Kistner has simply said he wanted to see his team to simply improve on a weekly basis.
He reiterated that following the shutout.
“Any win is better than a loss, we’ll take it,” Kistner said. “We’re gonna take one game at a time and improve throughout the season.”
What it means
Victor Valley was able to clinch the High Desert sweep this week as every local program won its season opener. Kistner has now officially picked up a victory as head coach for three different High Desert programs.
Key play
With about a minute left in the third quarter, Browning forced and recovered a fumble to set up the Jackrabbits at the Big Bear 5. The turnover set up Victor Valley to score with a pass to the back of the end zone from Cibrian to Clark.
By the numbers
3 — The number of starters from last year’s Victor Valley team returning this year: Browning, Robert Vazquez and Joe Gonzales.
111 — The number of total yards Cibrian threw for in his first start at quarterback.
35 — The number of minutes it took until the first score of the game. Victor Valley’s first touchdown came in the final minute of the third quarter.
Game balls
Browning stuffed the run all game long and caused two of the three fumbles by the Victor Valley defense.
Kyron Harris reeled in 76 receiving yards and made multiple quick stops on defense.
They said it
Cibrian on scoring the team’s first touchdown just after failing to score earlier from the goal line: “I knew we should have scored the first time but we got a second chance, we were gonna score this time.”
What’s next
Victor Valley is back in action Friday at Hesperia, where Kistner coached from 2003 to 2008. Kistner left Hesperia to coach at Oak Hills, where he didn’t lose a game against his former program.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Prep Football: Browning leads the defense as Victor Valley shuts out Big Bear
