TEMECULA — In a battle for supremacy in southwest Riverside County football, Murrieta Valley on Friday showed where the power lies. The Nighthawks overcame the loss of their starting center on the first series of the game and still managed to steamroll Chaparral 56-22. Murrieta Valley’s Ty Isaia avoids Chaparral’s Logan Coleman in a Big West Conference-North Division football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Chaparral’s QB Dane Weber runs the ball past Murrieta Valley’s Tyler Roney in a Big West Conference-North Division football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Murrieta Valley’s Jeremiah Watson runs past Chaparral’s Jonathan “JJ” Cravin in a Big West Conference-North Division football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Murrieta Valley’s Jeremiah Watson tries to avoid Chaparral’s Jonathan “JJ” Cravin in a Big West Conference-North Division football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Murrieta Valley’s Kurelle Thomas stiff arms Chaparral’s Jake Dofelmire in a Big West Conference-North Division football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Murrieta Valley’s Jeremiah Watson looks for room in a Big West Conference-North Division football game against Chaparral on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Chaparral’s Eli Woodard runs the ball followed by Murrieta Valley’s Troy Karg in a Big West Conference-North Division football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Chaparral’s Chase Bonta is tackled after a catch by Murrieta Valley’s Kamren Armstrong in a Big West Conference-North Division football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Chaparral’s Chase Bonta makes a catch in front of Murrieta Valley’s Kamren Armstrong in a Big West Conference-North Division football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Chaparral’s Jayce Venable tries to avoid Murrieta Valley’s Lima Tofilau-Hernandez in a Big West Conference-North Division football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Chaparral’s fans cheer during a Big West Conference-North Division football game against Murrieta Valley on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Chaparral’s fans cheer during a Big West Conference-North Division football game against Murrieta Valley on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Chaparral’s fans cheer during a Big West Conference-North Division football game against Murrieta Valley on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Murrieta Valley’s Dorian Hoze stiff arms Chaparral’s Jonathan “JJ” Cravin in a Big West Conference-North Division football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Chaparral cheer squad performs at halftime of a Big West Conference-North Division football game against Murrieta Valley on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Chaparral’s Tycen Johnson catches the ball in front of Murrieta Valley’s Darius Johnson in a Big West Conference-North Division football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Show Caption1 of 16Murrieta Valley’s Ty Isaia avoids Chaparral’s Logan Coleman in a Big West Conference-North Division football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Expand Senior running back Dorian Hoze galloped for a 28-yard gain on the first play of the contest, signaling that the Chaparral defense was destined for a difficult night. Running simple “power” plays inside and the occasional sweep to the outside, the Nighthawks churned through Chaparral’s defense for 409 rushing yards, with Hoze collecting 223 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 22 carries, pushing him to 1,031 rushing yards for the season. Hoze ripped off a 65-yard run to open the third quarter and set up a touchdown. When Hoze came out for a breather, Jeremiah Watson kept the Nighthawks in high gear, picking up 144 yards on 10 carries, including an electrifying 61-yard touchdown romp in the fourth quarter. “Keep running until they stop it. Like they say, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. We literally said that at halftime,” Hoze said. Murrieta Valley built a 21-3 lead after one period and rushed for 215 yards in the first half. “As an ex-offensive lineman, it’s impressive what they do,” said Pumas coach Andrew Ramer, a 2005 Chaparral alumnus who was a standout lineman at Norfolk State University. “We told the guys it was going to be a fight, they were going to run the ball, and we had to step up. We didn’t, and it was a good old-fashioned butt-kicking.” There was early anxiety for the Nighthawks, who lost 6-foot-5, 290-pound starting center Luke Kingman to a leg injury on the first play of the game. He was replaced by sophomore Aiden Mulato, who rolled several shotgun snaps on his first series but was picked up by Nighthawks’ freshman quarterback, Ty Isaia. Showing remarkable poise, Isaia several times gathered up the errant snaps and turned potential disaster into positive yards, including touchdown runs of 2 and 5 yards. And his two pass completions resulted in touchdowns for Cam Connor (31 yards) and Derrick Johnson Jr. (11 yards). “Definitely it was a scary sight to see, not what you want,” Isaia said about Kingman being assisted off the field. “But I have trust in my other center. It’s just a matter of working with what you have and finding a way to win.” Murrieta Valley coach George Wilson praised his club for its resilience. “The level of adversity in a big game, when we couldn’t get a snap for a whole series and we still went down and scored — it would have been really easy to question things or fold in that adversity. I’m just so proud of the guys,” Wilson said. “We already have a freshman quarterback, and not having our center and to do what we did, that’s what I’m proud of. “There were probably over 10 snaps that we rolled back. In that environment, it’s really easy to get frustrated and fold, so keeping our composure and just continuing to work the ball down the field and go score, that part of the game is the part I was really happy about.” Murrieta Valley improved to 6-1 overall and will take a five-game winning streak into another big matchup next week when the Nighthawks visit Centennial in a battle of unbeatens in the Big West Conference-North Division. Both teams are 2-0 in conference play. 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Weber completed 18 of 30 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown. “I know our kids are going to respond,” Ramer said. “We got embarrassed two weeks ago (a 51-10 loss to Mission Viejo) and we responded the way we needed to (defeating Vista Murrieta 55-28). But we’re going to rely on that senior group we’ve been relying on all year and get back to work.”