SAN JOSE — In a decade as the head football coach at Wilcox, Paul Rosa had never seen anything like it. Mike Machado, addressing his victorious Valley Christian team afterward, lost count. Was it five turnovers they forced? Six? Seven?
Things got out of hand in a hurry Friday night as Valley Christian started its football season with a 41-10 rout of Wilcox in a lopsided episode of what is becoming a traditional Week 1 meeting between South Bay powers. The Warriors (1-0) entered the game No. 8 in the Bay Area News Group’s preseason rankings, with the Chargers (0-1) one spot behind, at No. 9.
For a half, it had all the makings of a marquee matchup. Wilcox lost a fumble on its first play of the second half, and Valley Christian was off to the races. The teams went into the locker room separated by only a field goal but played the whole fourth quarter under a running clock.
The Warriors turned a 6-3 advantage at halftime into a 41-3 lead by the end of the third quarter.
“Unexplainable,” Rosa said.
Wilcox High quarterback Kai Imahara (11) runs for 7 yards before being tackled by Valley Christian High’s June Serrano (35) in the third quarter of their football game in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
The Chargers ran 11 plays from scrimmage in the third quarter and turned the ball over five times. Led by its powerful front seven, Valley Christian converted each turnover into seven points — a 35-0 margin in the quarter — and finished the game with seven total takeaways.
“In a field position game, that changes everything,” Machado said. “They can’t establish field position because we’re taking the ball away. The good thing is, offensively, we finished. Every time we got it, we put points on the board.”
Sophomore quarterback Rome Leota-Pritchard needed to complete only six of his 12 passes to throw for a pair of touchdowns and 172 yards. He connected on a 77-yard strike to Lasavion Carr for their only touchdown of the first half and found Jesse D’anna for a 23-yard score that made it 34-3 midway through the third.
Senior running back Ekiah Mclemore carried the ball 15 times for 67 yards, including twice into the end zone. It wasn’t until the second half that any other player took a handoff, and when junior Divine John got his chance, he broke away for a 43-yard touchdown scamper that made it 27-3.
Valley Christian High quarterback Rome Leota-Pritchard (7) looks for an open receiver in the second quarter of their football game against Wilcox High in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
“We set up one with the other — that’s football,” Machado said of his offense, which needed only 37 plays from scrimmage to put up 342 yards and six touchdowns. “If you can run the ball and they have to commit more guys to the box, you have a chance to throw the ball. And that’s what we did.”
The Warriors’ defense gave their offense the ball in Wilcox territory three times and scored six points themselves on a pick-six from sophomore linebacker Mike Synegal. After their fumble to start the second half, the Chargers started their next drive with three straight pass plays, and Synegal took the third 23 yards to the house.
After leaving last season’s playoff opener injured, junior quarterback Kai Imahara completed seven of his 19 pass attempts for 106 yards in his first game back under center for the Chargers. The bigger question for Rosa was how to replace his youngest son, Brayden, in their split-back veer system.
Wilcox High’s Myles Cheney (12) catches a pass for a gain of 8 yards in the first quarter of their football game against Valley Christian High in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Without Brayden Rosa, the Bay Area News Group’s Santa Clara County player of the year last season, Wilcox employed a four-headed running game that showed promise, totaling 139 yards, but couldn’t overcome its trouble holding onto the ball.
Imahara kept the ball 11 times for 37 yards and junior Elijah Vallejo carried it 12 times for 70 yards, eventually scoring the Chargers’ only touchdown of the game on a fourth-down run from the 2-yard line with 4:03 to play that cut the deficit to 41-10.
Wilcox methodically marched down the field on on its first drive of the game, running the ball 13 times on 15 plays while eating up almost the entire first quarter, and opened a 3-0 lead. But Leota-Pritchard found Carr on the first play of the second quarter, and the Warriors never trailed again.
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“They’re always really tough on defense. We play them the first game of the year ever year and it’s always a dogfight. But that’s why we play them: We want to see where we’re at,” Rosa said. “Unfortunately, we saw where we were today in the second half. It wasn’t good.”
The win was Valley Christian’s seventh in nine meetings between the teams since 2016.
They won last year’s Week 1 matchup, too, but went on to finish 5-6 in the WCAL while Wilcox advanced to the 2-A NorCal finals.
“To turn the ball over like that, I know that’s not who they are,” Machado said. “Our guys got the benefit of what was going on tonight and took advantage of it. But going forward, I think you’ll see them like you always do in a race for the championship of that league.”
Valley Christian Head Coach Mike Machado talks to the team after winning their football game 41-10 against Wilcox High in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Wilcox High Head Coach Paul Rosa talks to the team after their 41-10 loss to Valley Christian in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Valley Christian High’s Ekiah McLemore (25) runs for 5 yards in the second quarter of their football game against Wilcox High in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
After making a reception, Valley Christian High’s Riley McElvane (3) gets past Wilcox High’s Isiaiah Arevalos (20) for the first down in the first quarter of their football game in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Valley Christian High’s Riley McElvane (3) reaches for a pass in the second quarter of their football game against Wilcox High in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Valley Christian High’s Colton Hider (11) runs for 7 yards before being tackled by Wilcox High’s Isiaiah Arevalos (20), Wilcox High’s Nicolas Hernandez (10) and Wilcox High’s Santino Barragan (24) in the second quarter of their football game in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Wilcox High Head Coach Paul Rosa watches the team warm up before their football game against Valley Christian in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Valley Christian High’s Colton Hider (11), right, leads the team in the cheer after winning their football game 41-10 against Wilcox High in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)