FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Valley View vs. Forrest City

Posted on October 3, 2023 by Brayden Morse

Blazers tame Mustangs for homecoming win, 54 – 20

Delta Digital News Service

JONESBORO, Ark. – Defense and special teams dominance helped the Valley View Blazers to victory over the Forrest City Mustangs on homecoming at Central Dealerships Stadium on Friday night.

Valley View had three defensive touchdowns in the first quarter and two special teams touchdowns in the first half.

Blazers Head Coach Sean Cockrell addressed his thoughts on the defense and special teams in the first half in the 54-20 win.

“It was awesome. I thought we played well on all sides of the ball, but to get three defensive touchdowns in the first quarter is crazy. Kickoff return was great, the overhead punt getting out of the endzone. We scouted really well and had a great gameplan. The kids executed it,” he said.

Forrest City fumbled on their first drive of the game with Valley View linebacker Brian Huff recovering for a 25-yard touchdown with eight minutes left in the first quarter, taking a 14-0 lead.

Valley View’s Zane Guthrie (9) tries to shake Forrest City’s Lee Smith (28) during first half action in Jonesboro, Friday, September 29, 2023.

The Mustangs responded back with a 73-yard touchdown pass, for their first of three touchdowns of the game.

The very next kickoff, Blazer kick returner/wide receiver TJ Starks scored on an 81-yard return. Forrest City got the ball back and fumbled again, while Valley View free safety Laird Cullen recovered. The Blazers once again had great field position.

Valley View capitalized with a 17-yard rushing touchdown from running back Zane Guthrie, leading 28-6 midway through the first quarter.

The Blazers added two special teams touchdowns back-to-back punts. Linebacker Jayde Taylor recovered and scored the first, while cornerback Kenneth Robinson scored the second.

The score was 48-6 at halftime, so it was time to take the starters out.

“We wanted to take them out and did in the second quarter. They scored a couple late in the second half and we got kind of nervous. We had a lot of guys play tonight, probably about 70 guys so we are excited about that,” Cockrell said.

“We wanted to take them out and did in the second quarter. They scored a couple late in the second half and we got kind of nervous. We had a lot of guys play tonight, probably about 70 guys so we are excited about that.”
– Sean Cockerel, Blazers Head Coach

Valley View went on to score only one touchdown in the second half but ran the ball majority of the time to drain the clock while leading big. Forrest City fought hard for their two touchdowns in the second half but did not have enough time on the clock to complete a comeback.

The Blazers will travel to play Wynne next Friday at 7 p.m. Coach Cockrell gave his thoughts on how to relay this win to next week’s conference game.

“We said we wanted to be 2-0 (in conference) and we are. We know Wynne has so much tradition and they are a really good football team. It is going to be tough so we know we are going to have to focus next week to go down there and try to get a win,” he said.

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