After a gut wrenching defeat in week one West Ranch (1-1) bounced back, nearly shutting out Cleveland High School (1-1) in a 35-6 win Thursday night.

West Ranch Head Coach Chris Varner described last week’s game against Pacifica as a shell shock, but he was much less shocked that his team bounced back from it.

“We played hard last week, but the score wasn’t indicative of that. We went back to just focusing on the fundamentals and trying to have a short memory,” said Varner. “Things worked for us tonight, so we’ll take it.”

In the efforts to have a bounce-back game, quarterback Cooper Jackson was on point and had a solid first half with three touchdowns.

“Cooper Jackson for his first game to go against a team like Pacifica was really tough. I know he was a little down on himself, but we just talked about being positive and coming back out,” said Varner. “I was very happy with how he was able to bounce back. He needed that for confidence.”

Jackson was confident and spread his wealth on offense, connecting with Charlie Samuelson, Andrew Hamilton and Gabe Cotti for his three touchdown passes.

When Jackson wasn’t slinging the ball through the air, he was handing it off to running back Luke Deperno, whose aggressive style of running was wearing on the defense all night.

When Deperno wasn’t punishing defenders, teammates Justus Morris and Aidan Lynch were rotating in the backfield. Both Morris and Lynch would end the night with a touchdown.

While the offense was firing on all cylinders, so was the defense, which had two interceptions on the night and a few big tackles for a loss on the Cavaliers.

Nathan Erzrumly brings down Cleveland running Cameron Green for a tackle for loss.
Steven Barrera | KHTS

“Big credit to the defense. Last week, we definitely felt like we were at odds with ourselves, so I’m glad we were able to simplify things, come out and just play football,” said Varner. “

Cleveland battled the whole game, so hats off to them, but we have to go back to work and get ready for next week.”

The Wildcats will have another short week as they prepare to take on Antelope Valley on Thursday, September 5, from Valencia High School.

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