New Valley Christian coach Kirk Sundberg prides himself on offensive production. He gladly took a bow to defense Saturday as it helped guide the Trojans to a 42-13 victory over Chino Valley at NAU's Walkup Skydome. It was the season opener for both teams.

"No doubt about it, our defense got it started for us," Sundberg said in his debut. "I was joking with my defensive coordinator that he was showing me up scoring more points. I'll never give up the points defense gets us. These kids don't know how good they can be, and hopefully that's going to come together for us."

Valley Christian got a pair of interception returns for touchdowns and picked off three passes in all. They added a blocked punt late to set up a its final score. 

Tanner Canfield led the way for Valley Christian catching a 30 yard scoring pass and returning a pick 32 yards in the second half for a score. The Trojans took the lead 14-7 just before half with Tyler Crouch benefitting from  heated pass rush and slightly deflected throw that he picked and returned 48 yards to paydirt. 

Vinnie LaGatta got the offense on the board early in the third period throwing an-82-yard TD to Andrew Hanzal that put Chino Valley down two scores quickly. The Cougars never recovered. Shane Dunn and Nathan Dykstra added TD runs for Valley Christian to cap the scoring.

Elijah Scordato and Michael Paulus scored Chino Valley's TD's both - in the second quarter and fourth quarter, respectively.