Mountain View stands tall

The opening night of high school football is always special. But for Evergreen and Mountain View, Friday’s tussle at McKenzie Stadium carried more than the typical anticipation.

Turned out, only the Thunder were special.

Mountain View dominated the line of scrimmage en route to a 35-7 win over rival Evergreen that was all but sealed by halftime.

The rivals traditionally play in the last week of the season. But they went at it on opening night 2010 because they no longer share the same league. Mountain View dropped into Class 3A, so the only thing on the line this time was bragging rights.

Boy, did the Thunder produce.

With the offseason to prepare to defend Evergreen’s fake-heavy running game, Mountain View played as many as 10 defenders close to the line of scrimmage and effectively stymied the Plainsmen.

On six first-half possessions, Evergreen was held without a first down and minus-1 yard of net offense. By night’s end, the yardage margin was 303-144.

PJ Jones led the way with 188 yards and a pair of rout-capping scores. Fullback Dylan Peterson finished with 56 yards and two scores.

But the real story was the Mountain View defense, which set the tone from the start.

Evergreen’s Quwontae Wallace sped 56 yards on a punt return and the Plainsmen took their first snap of the season from the Thunder 9-yard line. Four downs later, Mountain View took over at their 14.

While the Plainsmen sputtered — fumbles and indecision appeared to compound the effect of the Thunder’s aggressiveness on defense — Mountain View was steady and opportunistic.

The first score, a 2-yard plunge by Petersen early in the second quarter, capped a 25-yard, five-play drive after a short Evergreen punt.

The second Mountain View touchdown was the result of a 35-yard drive. The touchdown on fourth-and-goal came via the air, with quarterback Ryan Hansen rolling left after faking a handoff and finding tight end Ryan Johnson wide open.

Evergreen did gain field position with its kick-return game, but struggled to convert short-yardage opportunities.

The Plainsmen moved the ball 48 yards on 11 running plays to open the third quarter, picking up their first three first downs of the night. But Mountain View’s Jones recovered a fourth-down fumble to squelch that march, then sped 58 yards on the next snap. That led to a 5-yard power touchdown run from Petersen that made the score 21-0 and pretty much sealed the result.

The Plainsmen carried a bitter memory into this game. Their 2009 season came to a sudden halt when Mountain View rallied with 20 late points to beat Evergreen 20-14 and keep the Plainsmen out of a playoff tiebreaker scenario.

But in Week 1, no team is concerned with playoff fate. That is the good news for Evergreen — that and the fact that the next eight opponents won’t have eight months to prepare to defend the Plainsmen.

For Mountain View, Friday was pretty much all good news.

MOUNTAIN VIEW 35, EVERGREEN 7

Mountain View 0 14 7 14—35

Evergreen 0 0 0 7— 7

Second quarter

MV — Dylan Petersen 2 run (Chavo Camargo kick)

MV — Ryan Johnson 3 pass from Ryan Hansen (Camargo kick)

Third quarter

MV — Petersen 5 run (Camargo kick)

Fourth quarter

MV — PJ Jones 48 run (Camargo kick)

MV — PJ Jones 9 run (Camargo kick)

Eve — O’Shay Piper 5 run (Timur Zhividze kick)

Leaders

Rushing — Mountain View: Petersen 15-56, PJ Jones 14-188, Ryan Hansen 6-31, Sterling Reynolds 2-9, Camargo 4-11. Evergreen: Chase Lawrence 20-71, Piper 10-24, Brian Shirts 9-23, Beni Corbic 7-11, Quwontae Wallace 5-5, Anthony Thomas 5-0, Tekwon Wallace 1-6.

Passing — Mountain View: Ryan Hansen: 3-8-1-23. Evergreen: A. Thomas 0-8-1-0, Corbic 1-1-0-4.

Receiving — Mountain View: Jones 1-6, Josh Parker 1-14, Ryan Johnson 1-3. Evergreen: Piper 1-4.