Metea Valley singing the blues after defeat

Jim Cornelison’s rendition of the national anthem was the perfect segue to an entertaining first half of football.

Glenbrook South and Metea Valley combined for 48 points and 7 touchdowns in the first half following the Blackhawks’ anthem singer, who was on hand as a guest of Metea Valley.

However, a costly Mustangs turnover just before halftime turned a 1-point deficit into 8 heading into intermission.

From that point the momentum swung to the visitors and the end result was a 56-26 nonconference home loss to the Titans, which dropped the Mustangs’ record to 0-2 on the season.

“It certainly didn’t help,” Metea Valley coach Ben Kleinhans said of the turnover. “Instead of being down one at halftime, you’re down 8 and (Glenbrook South) kind of grabbed the momentum from there.”

The turnover happened with 53 seconds left in the first half and Metea Valley trailing 21-20. Quarterback Blaise Bell dropped back to pass from his own 34-yard line but was hit by Glenbrook South’s Shoukl Shunoroh as he tried to scramble outside the pocket. Jack Schiltz recovered the ball at the 23-yard line and the Titans scored two plays later to take a 28-20 halftime lead.

“That was a very interesting play,” Schiltz said. “Shoukl was the one who knocked the quarterback and all I had to do was go fall on the ball.”

Metea Valley scored on its first three possessions while Glenbrook South scored on its first two possessions as both teams traded touchdowns for much of the first quarter.

Bell connected with Bryson Oliver on a 19-yard scoring strike on the game’s opening drive.

Glenbrook South answered right back as quarterback Fitz Stadler orchestrated a 6-play, 64-yard drive including a 38-yard touchdown pass to Cody Carroll down the visitors’ sideline.

The Mustangs took the lead back on the next possession as Bell threw his second touchdown pass of the evening, this time scrambling to his right and targeting Nick Dodson who sprinted down the sideline and beat his defender, putting his team up 13-7.

After a Titans’ touchdown the Mustangs scored their last points of the first half on a 1-yard run up the middle by Jay Parker with 11:34 left in the second quarter to put Metea Valley up 20-14, its final lead of the night.

From there Glenbrook South scored 42 answered points before Metea Valley capped off the night with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Mooney to Michael Phillips in the fourth quarter.

“We played as well as we could have on offense to start the game,” Kleinhans said. “I felt like we had an answer and (Glenbrook South) was really struggling to counter what we were doing.”