EL CAJON — For the first time in school history, the Victor Valley Rams defeated the Grossmont College Griffins in football on Saturday, Oct. 29 by a score of 31-16 at Mashin-Roth Memorial Stadium.
Sophomore QB Elia Kirisimasi threw for 171 yards on 16-of-41 with two touchdowns and an interception in the loss.
Keiyon Holloway ran for a team-high 57 yards on 10 carries to lead the rushing attack. Junior Salas ran the ball twice late in the game for 36 yards.
Victor Valley (3-4, 1-1 American Mountain) opened the scoring halfway through the first quarter with a 41-yard field goal by Carlos Garcia for a 3-0 lead. Less than 90 seconds into the second quarter, the Rams tacked on an Omari McCullough 12-yard reception for a touchdown and a 10-0 lead after the Garcia extra point.
Three and a half minutes later, the Griffins got on the board with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Kirisimasi to James Johnson to cut the lead down to 10-7.
Five minutes later, VVC QB Tyler Karen threw his second touchdown to Matthew Lowe from two yards out to make it 17-7. With less than a minute before halftime, the Rams tacked on another seven points with a Keynard Edwards (177 yards on 25 carries) touchdown to make it 24-7 at the break.
The Grossmont (3-5, 1-2 American Mountain) defense came out of halftime with a different mindset as they forced VVC to go 3-and out. Four plays after the punt, Cleveland Ford III caught a six-yard pass from Kirisimasi for a TD and cut the deficit to 24-14.
Victor Valley went on a seven-play drive and missed a 40-yard field goal attempt. Grossmont went on a five-play drive but had to settle for a punt that was downed at the Victor Valley four-yard line.
The Rams tried to get out of the shadow of their own goalposts with a pass, the problem is that Colton Guerrero and Marcus House combined for a safety to make the score 24-16.
VVC closed out the scoring when they picked up a fumble and returned it 48-yards for a touchdown with about eight and a half minutes left in the game. Much of that time that was remaining was played in near darkness as the sun had tucked behind nearby Cowles Mountain.
Grossmont will travel to Palm Desert next week to play No. RV/25 College of the Desert. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Then the Griffins will return home to close out the season when they host Compton for another one o'clock kickoff.