Prep Football: Victor Valley rallies past Diamond Bar as Campos slings six touchdown passes

All the Victor Valley football team wanted was a chance at making the playoffs in Jeff Vanover’s last season as head coach.

The Jackrabbits got that opportunity with an at-large berth into the CIF-Southern Section Division 12 bracket and made the best of it. Earlier this season, Vanover informed his team he would be stepping away from the program after 15 seasons.

Victor Valley, the No. 4 seed in the division, topped Diamond Bar 55-36, extending its season at least another week. The Jackrabbits rallied from a 15-point deficit at the half and held the Brahmas to just seven points in the second half.

Victor Valley looked sluggish in the first half, but a halftime speech in the locker room from Vanover worked its magic, motivating the Jackrabbits to the program’s first postseason victory since 2010.

“We were very flat, and I told them that was not the type of football we had been playing for the last few weeks and they really needed to step it up,” Vanover said. “I really challenged them to come out of the half and play the best half they’ve ever played. And they came out and played darn close to an amazing half of football.”

Quarterback Gabriel Campos said everyone in the locker room knew that the first half was the worst 24 minutes the team had played in recent memory.

“We messed up a lot and couldn’t really get much together,” Campos said. “His words got to us, and we picked our heads up in that second half.”

Campos and the Jackrabbits wasted no time getting going in the third quarter. After a long run by Brandon Dumas was negated for a holding penalty, Campos chucked a bomb from midfield into the hands of Myson Brown for a touchdown to pull within nine points.

The two struck again on the following drive for a 59-yarder that pulled the surging team to within three points with 8:47 left in the third.

“After watching film, I knew the DBs weren’t strong and our receivers had the edge,” Campos said. “I knew who I could pick on, and who I couldn’t. So I was just rerouting them, trusted my receivers and knew what would be open. It was a great feeling.”

The Jackrabbits then forced another punt before Dumas broke free for a 49-yard touchdown run for a 34-29 lead following a two-point conversion.

Campos wasn’t done quite yet, though, as he chucked a 40-yard touchdown pass to Corinthians Jones for a 41-29 lead entering the fourth quarter.

“Campos has a lot of confidence in his receivers, and those guys are amazing on 50-50 balls,” Vanover said. “I cringe of course when the ball is in the air, but I can’t hold them back, either.”

Diamond Bar finally tacked seven points on the board midway through the fourth quarter on a 17-yard touchdown reception by Maddox Bernardino to make it a five-point game.

But Dumas, a wide receiver converted into a running back, broke free for a 45-yard run to set the Jackrabbits up in the red zone. He later punched the ball in from six yards out. Victor Valley led by 11 at that point.

“I remember when he came up to me and said he wanted to play running back, and I was like ‘Yeah, alright, whatever,’ because I’ve had kids like that before,” Vanover said. “But once he started playing the position I knew we had something special.”

Brown picked off a pass on the following drive, and Campos and Jones connected for a 35-yard touchdown pass with 11 ticks left on the clock.

“Oh my god, that man did amazing tonight,” Jones said of Campos’ six-touchdown performance. “He deserves a lot of the credit for this.”

The sluggish start began with the teams exchanging three-and-outs on the first two drives.

Diamond Bar cranked up the tempo after that, driving 84-yards with a no-huddle offense. Mike Gorbea II capped the drive with a punch in from a yard out midway through the quarter.

The Jackrabbits marched back down the field, but the drive stalled out eight yards from the end zone after an incomplete pass on fourth down.

Victor Valley got on the board midway through the second quarter on a three-yard touchdown pass from Campos to Brown to pull within eight points.

Diamond Bar upped the lead to 22-7, but the Jackrabbits quickly responded with a 22-yard strike from Campos to Trevon Cody with 1:42 left in the half.

But the Brahmas ended the half with a 29-14 lead on a touchdown pass after the Jackrabbits were called for roughly 40 penalty yards.

“Coach really gave it to us, got on our butts and reminded us that this is our house,” Jones said. “We responded, and we feel great getting this victory.

“As long as we keep doing that, especially with (Dumas) running the ball like that, nobody could stop that. Once they try to stop B, then we have the power receivers and nobody could hang with us.”

Victor Valley is back in action next week in Hemet at Tahquitz, which topped Harvard-Westlake 56-33.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Prep Football: Victor Valley scores first playoff victory since 2010, rallies past Diamond Bar