Welch does it all as Golden Valley finishes football season strong.
Golden Valley High junior Isaiah Welch did a little bit of everything for the Golden Valley High football team on Friday night. The versatile star scored three rushing touchdowns, returned a fumble for a score and intercepted a pass to lead the Cougars to a 32-16 victory over El Capitan at Veterans Stadium.
“My body hurts a little bit, but you have to leave everything out on the field,” Welch said. You won’t find anyone questioning Welch’s passion or toughness. He tweaked his knee at point of the game, but returned. He later was drilled by an El Capitan defender after making a big third-down catch in the middle of the field. Welch was hit so hard it broke his shoulder pads so he quickly went to the sideline and borrowed a teammate’s shoulder pads for the rest of the game.
“He just has a motor and he plays hard every game,” said Golden Valley head coach Rick Martinez. “He plays offense and defense and he just keeps going every week.”
The Cougars started fast, driving 75 yards on the opening possession of the game. Quarterback Gabe Richards scored on a 12-yard run to give GV a 7-0 lead with 9:13 left in the first quarter. The Cougars then forced a fumble on El Capitan’s first play and Welch scooped the ball up and raced 30 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 13-0 with 8:51 left in the first quarter.
After El Capitan scored its first points of the game on a 27-yard field goal by Jorge Chavez, the Cougars answered back with another touchdown. This time it was Welch running the ball in from four yards out to give the Cougars a 19-3 lead.
It looked like Golden Valley was going to put the game away after a bad snap on an El Capitan punt gave the Cougars the ball on the Gauchos’ 30-yard line early in the third quarter. Golden Valley handed the ball off to Welch five consecutive plays with Welch scoring on a 13-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 25-3 with 7:56 left in the third quarter.
The Gauchos came alive in the second half as Gio Mendoza twice connected with receiver A.J. Jones on touchdown passes of 78 and 16 yards to pull within 25-16 with 10 minutes left in the game. Jones finished with five catches for 127 yards and the two scores. Gauchos running back Lorenzo Peters finished with 102 rushing yards on 19 carries.
Golden Valley was able to come up with a scoring drive late to put the game away. It was Welch putting the exclamation mark on the victory with a 7-yard touchdown run that gave the Cougars a 32-16 lead with 49 seconds left. Welch finished with 29 carries for 131 yards and the three touchdowns.
“I heard it today from a great coach who said that 50% of the teams are going to walk out of here on the last night with their heads held high and 50% of the teams are going to walk out with their heads down,” Martinez said. “This is the last game, this will be the game the kids remember.”
Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.