Desert Christian routs West Shores

Coming off a difficult game last week, in which Desert Christian made a long haul of its own in a 3-hour trip to Laton, only to lose 42-8, the Knights were itching to get back on the field.

That meant bad news for West Shores.

Desert Christian scored early and often, including a 42-point barrage in the first quarter and cruised to an easy 65-6 victory to earn their first victory of the season, Friday night at Lancaster High School.

“It was a week of messaging adversity and how to deal with it. It was about taking ownership of your own position,” Knights head coach Aaron Williams said. “This will build our confidence moving forward. We made some adjustments, offensively and defensively, and I figured we could get our running backs going. This was a game I thought we should win on paper, but you still have to play the game.”

The running backs did get going, and going, and going.

Raymond Lattimore led the surge with 110 yards on eight carries, while scoring three touchdowns on runs of 41, 19, and 27 yards. Noah Bakewell was just as effective as he rushed for 88 yards on nine carries. He rushed for a touchdown and had another receiving.

“The line started working as a team, and we made some adjustments on defense that worked,” Lattimore said. “Overall, we played much better than last week. This is a good boost for us. We’re beginning to trust each other more. Tonight, we got the crowd behind us, so it felt incredible. Noah (Bakewell) and I did our job. That’s my big brother, who has taught me so much. We’re looking forward to having a great season.”

Lattimore shot the Knights out of the cannon as he scored on just the second play from scrimmage, bursting to the outside and sprinting 41 yards for the score and a 7-0 lead.

On Desert Christian’s (1-1) second possession, the Knights were forced to punt. Williams, however, pulled a play out of his bag of tricks, which resulted in a 33-yard completion from Justin Green to Stephen Wiser for a first down. On the next play, Bakewell bulled his way into the end zone from nine yards out for a 14-0 lead.

Things went from bad to worse for the Wildcats (0-1) as Green recovered a fumbled snap in the end zone for a touchdown. After Desert Christian got the ball back on its fourth possession, Lattimore scampered 19 yards into the end zone as the Knights kept pouring it on, 28-0.

Andrew Silva made his first start at quarterback for Desert Christian in place of Franky Balcorta. Balcorta was injured in last week’s game against Laton after being sacked 11 times. Silva was efficient in his debut as he finished the game 4-of-6 for 58 yards and two touchdowns.

“On the first play of the game, I was nervous, but after that the nerves were gone,” Silva said. “I thought our line played well. We still have some things to fix, but overall, it was a good game. After this game, I feel more comfortable if I have to go in again. This victory was good for our morale.”

Silva’s first touchdown pass came on a 15-yard screen pass to Bakewell, who rumbled in for the score to give his team a 35-0 lead. Silva’s second TD came on a 22-yard touchdown pass to Green as that capped the 42-point first quarter. Silva also rushed for a 13-yard touchdown just before halftime as Desert Christian led 49-0.

The Knights’ defense was stout and it capitalized off seven turnovers by the Wildcats, including two interceptions each by Wiser and James Henderson. Desert Christian only allowed 118 yards of total offense to West Shores.