Golden Valley football routs Castaic

CANYON COUNTRY — Golden Valley’s Zeelen Shatswell intercepted Castaic quarterback Aidan Mojica on the game’s second play, setting up Jayce Johnson’s touchdown pass to Ace Frias that sparked the Grizzlies’ 35-7 win Thursday.

Golden Valley held the Coyotes to just two first downs in the opening half.

Johnson gave the Grizzlies a comfortable 28-0 lead heading into halftime after he scored from one yard out on a quarterback sneak.

The offense failed to score in the second half, with the only points coming on Lance Harper’s interception return midway through the fourth quarter — a lapse that head coach Dan Kelley emphasized in his postgame message.

“You gotta play more consistent. You gotta play four quarters of football,” he said.

“You got a Castaic team, hats off to the defense, they played four quarters of football. We played two on offense.”

The Grizzlies turned the ball over on downs three times in the second half and struggled to finish drives, though their defense recorded three interceptions.

Kelley said the offense struggled with “missed blocks” and “mismanaging of the football in the red zone.”

“It’s kind of too late in the season to be making those mistakes, but we’ve got a bye week to fix them,” he said. “Hopefully we can.”

Golden Valley junior Zeelen Shatswell had two interceptions.

“Shatswell’s a great player,” Kelley said. “He’s done a lot of great things on defense. … He’s around the ball, you know, and he plays aggressive. Sometimes too much, he will get a penalty here and there, but he’s a great athlete, he’s got a great nose for the ball and he had a great night tonight.”

The Grizzlies held the Castiac offense scoreless until Jack Mackler found sophomore receiver Takai Bogan down the right sideline for a 64-yard touchdown on the final play from scrimmage of the game.

For Golden Valley’s program, the focus will turn to earning one of the three automatic playoff bids allocated to the seven-team Foothill League.

Golden Valley improves to 2-1 in league play with the win, and they will be alone in third place if Canyon loses to Saugus on Friday night.

Shatswell said “we need to stay consistent” after the game, but also had a message about the Grizzlies’ aspirations.

“I believe we’re the third best team in Foothill,” he said. “We can play and beat good teams if we’re consistent, if [the] offense is consistent and defense is consistent.”

Looking ahead, Golden Valley heads into their bye week before playing the Daily News’ No. 3-ranked team in Valencia on Oct. 16, while Castaic will play the No. 8-ranked Hart next Friday, Oct. 10.