Valley comes up short against Imani Christian

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 15, 2018 | 11:51 PM

In a season when many schools are playing each other for the first time, the initial Imani Christian-Valley game was a memorable one.

Imani junior Josh Davis stopped Valley’s Deonte Ross a yard short of the sticks at the Saints 23 with 1 minute, 27 seconds to go to preserve a 32-25 nonconference victory at Wolvarena in Turtle Creek.

Senior quarterback Israel Reed passed for 239 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 55 yards and two scores for Imani (3-1).

Ross had 224 yards on 25 carries for the Vikings (1-3).

“I’m really proud of my guys. We were down a couple of players,” said Imani coach Ronnell Heard. “I’m just glad we came out with a win over a great football team.”

Freshman Pharoh Fisher caught a pass in stride from Reed for 55 yards on a fouth-and-10 from the Imani 45 to put the Saints in front 32-25.

Mason Shirey recovered an Imani fumble at the Valley 16 with 4:14 to go, just as the Saints appeared headed for an insurance touchdown.

A 28-yard run by Ross put Valley in a position to tie the score.

“Every week, we seem to make a ton of mistakes,” Vikings coach Muzzy Colosimo said. “We probably made the same amount of mistakes as they did, but we have to figure out how not to get beat deep on cover-3’s. But we’ll get better.”

The final part of the first half featured unusual circumstances. After Reed completed a 60-yard pass to Hart at the Valley 7, a touchdown pass to Hart was called back and the Saints were faced with a fourth-and-goal at the 20. Noah Hutcherson then sacked Reed at the 30 to give Valley possession at the 30 with 13.3 seconds left.

Ross then took a quick hitter up the middle and found running room to the Imani17 with 3 seconds left. A pass to Ross was completed to the 6, and a defensive holding call gave the Vikings the ball at the 3 and a chance to run a final play on an untimed down. Ross then scored, and Michael Saliba’s extra point gave Valley a 19-18 lead at the intermission.

Valley had considerable success running out of the big-I, with three back lined up directly behind the quarterback.

“I figured to beat them we were going to have to run the ball,” Colosimo said. “Deonte’s the real deal.”

Despite having the second half opening kickoff touchdown called back and a 93-yard scoring heave to Hart nullified, the Saints were undaunted.

From his 4 after another penalty, Reed fired a 41-yard pass to Hart and followed that five plays later with a 37-yard keeper to give Imani a 26-19 advantage after Juaron Thompson’s conversion run.

Fisher’s touchdown was the final score of the three-hour contest.

“Pharoh caught a big ball for us tonight,” Heard said. “That kid’s going to be a great player. I’m waiting for him to develop.”

Valley answered with an 85-yard drive in nine plays. The key to the drive was a 53-yard pass to Vaun Ross.

Imani Christian opened the scoring with a 9-yard pass to Hart. The senior receiver juggled the ball at the Valley 5 and quickly regained control.

A 40-yard punt return for a touchdown by Tevauhn Alston put the Saints ahead, 12-0.

The game was moved to Turtle Cfreek from Wilkinsburg’s Graham Field because of field conditions there.

George Guido is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact George at .

Tags: Imani Christian, Valley