De'Aundre Sanders is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Valley Vista for AZPreps365.com

SURPRISE – The battle of Surprise belongs to Valley Vista for the 12th consecutive year after steamrolling crosstown rival, Willow Canyon, on the road Friday night, 41-14.

The Monsoon (0-5, 0-0) entered the game with a losing streak, determined to not only get their first win of the season, but also keep their winning streak against the Wildcats alive.

“Anytime you play a district rival with the schools separated by a couple miles and it has a trophy involved, there’s added incentive,” Coach Derek Wahlstrom said. “But getting one in the victory column is also a big deal, so this is very meaningful."

The game started off looking like this was going to be the year the Wildcats might avenge their decade-long losing streak against Valley Vista. After Valley Vista’s first drive stalled after four plays, the Wildcats blocked the punt and recovered the ball at the Monsoon 14-yard line.

The Wildcats capitalized on the great field position, opening the drive with some flea flicker action. Junior quarterback Roman Thuyns handed the ball off to senior running back Skyler Moreno who then tossed the ball back to Thuyns, and Thuyns found wide receiver Ethan Bocanegra for a 14-yard touchdown at the 10:48 mark of the first quarter.

Moments later, Valley Vista fumbled on the kick return, allowing Willow Canyon to recover the ball on the Monsoon 34-yard line.

Two plays later, Thuyns found running back Isaac Marantes for another touchdown, jumping out to a 14-0 lead, after a successful two-point conversion. That was the last time the Wildcats saw the end zone for the remainder of game.

With 48 seconds remaining in the first quarter the Monsoon finally found a way to put points on the board as sophomore running back Jaahad Parris-Worley powered his way up the middle for an 8-yard touchdown.

The second quarter was when momentum completely shifted and began to look like the beginning of the end for the Wildcats, thanks to the spectacular play of junior punt returner Jeramicheal Hernandez.

With just a few minutes passing, Hernandez fielded a punt from the 40-yard line near the Valley Vista sideline, evaded a Willow Canyon defender, cut back to the left and took it 60 yards for a touchdown, cutting the Willow Canyon lead to just one.

“They messed up,” Hernandez said. “They kicked the ball to me, and I made them pay for it.”

After a quick three-and-out for the Wildcats, Valley Vista had the ball back and were on the move again.

Senior quarterback Miles Pringle was able to expose weaknesses in the Wildcats secondary, orchestrating an efficient seven-play drive that was capped off with him finding senior running back Damian Zuniga on a screen pass for a 33-yard, go-ahead touchdown, putting the Monsoon on top, 19-14, midway through the second quarter.

The tandem of Hernandez and Pringle was electrifying. Pringle found Hernandez on a 34-yard bomb down the Monsoon sideline that set up a 1-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Hernandez, catapulting the Monsoon to a 25-14 lead.

Valley Vista converted the 2-point conversion, taking a 27-14 lead into halftime.

Willow Canyon was not able to do much in the third quarter. The Monsoon scored first after coming out of the locker rooms, on a 27-yard pass from Pringle to his favorite target Hernandez to go up 33-14 with 6:15 left in the quarter.

As the game continued into the fourth quarter, Pringle continued to dice up the Wildcat defense, delivering a bullet pass over the middle to Jordan Harrison for a 34-yard touchdown, exploding the lead to 40-14.

The following extra point gave Valley Vista a 41-14 lead with eight minutes remining in the game.

“We trusted each other,” Pringle said. “Whatever someone suggests in the huddle we take it into consideration, and we worked as a team to get the win.”

Pringle connected on 12 of 22 passes for 199 yards and four touchdowns, while Hernandez was able to reel in five catches for 84 yards with two touchdowns through the air and one on a punt return, earning him player of the game recognition.

Valley Vista (1-5,0-0) will host Mountain Ridge (0-6,0-1) next Friday at 7 p.m.

Willow Canyon (1-5,0-0) will host the Agua Fria Owls (5-1,1-0) next Friday at 7 p.m.