The Valencia High football team, playing in its first-ever state playoff game, lost to a talented and experienced Silver High squad 44-20 on Friday, but the Jags, who have demonstrated the uncanny ability this season to hang tough in nearly every game this year, made the Colts work hard to earn their victory.

"Coach tells us to keep fighting, and we listen to him," said quarterback Orey Feerer, who doubles as a defensive back. "When you keep fighting, good things happen."

Once again, the Jaguars were matched up against a team that would outgain them offensively, but this time, it appeared this disparity would doom them in the game's early stages.

After the Jags went three and out on the game's opening drive, the Colts scored easily on a nine-play, 55-yard drive that culminated on a 14-yard touchdown scamper by Aaron Huerta, the first of his four touchdowns.

Valencia, which finished the season 5-6, once again could not move the ball on three tries from scrimmage, and once again Silver drove the ball effortlessly down the field to score when Huerta punched it in from a yard out.

The Jags' third drive wasn't any more successful than the first two, but this time, Valencia's defense dug in to get them back into the ball game.

On the sixth play after punting to the Colts (9-2), the Jags forced a fumble and linebacker Jeremiah Carroll recovered at the Silver 31-yard line.

The play gave life to the Jag offense. Running back Jake Sanchez ripped off a 21-yard run, which was only the second first down of the game for the Jaguars. From the Silver 10-yard line, it took Valencia three plays to score, on a Juan Rodriguez 4-yard run.

But the defense wasn't finished. Their aggressiveness seemed to rattle the Colts. Jaguar defensive back Curtis Peralta intercepted quarterback Zach Reyes' pass and returned it to Silver's 30-yard line.

After a holding penalty backed the Jags up to the Silver 40, Feerer found Orlando Ortiz for a 40-yard touchdown pass to tie the game, 14-14.

"I think a lot of why we stay in games is because of our coaching staff," said Valencia coach Kelley Lee. "We keep coaching the kids, and we stay positive with them. We've been in so many close games that they've learned to play hard. We've learned to overcome adversity and play hard."

The Colts were able to tack on a field goal just before the end of the half to take the lead again 17-14, but Lee believed his team's defensive pressure put the Colts back on their heals and that the momentum was with the Jags.

"We had a lot of momentum" Lee said. "They played a lot better in their comfort zone than when there was pressure on them. After those turnovers, we did a good job of stopping them."

Unfortunately, 6-foot, 4-inch Colt wide receiver, Jacob Zunich, who also serves as his team's kickoff return man, made a big play that returned the Colts to their comfort zone.

He scooped up a bouncing squib kick at his own 25-yard line on the opening kickoff of the second half, found a seam, and went 75 yards untouched to increase the Colt lead to 10 points at 24-14.

"We were squib-kicking all game because we didn't want to get it to him (Zurich) where he had a real chance," Lee said. "We told the kids that the ball is going to be bouncing around and to stay in their lanes. We're just young. We saw the ball on the ground, and the kids broke their lanes and went for the ball. He's too good of a runner. He found the seam. Sometimes we lose our composure a little bit, and that's what happened there."

The Jags held the Colts scoreless for the rest of the quarter, but were unable to generate any offense themselves.

The Colts scored in the early stages of the fourth quarter when Huerta scored his third touchdown on a 17-yard run. They then increased the lead to 37-14 about three minutes later when running back Montana Bencomo broke a 59-yard run.

"Both of those running backs get a lot of yards after contact, and they've got two tall wideouts that can really go up and get the ball," Lee said. "They put you in a bind. You can't load the box because they'll kill you. They have some really good senior football players. They're a lot older than we are at this point."

The Jags reduced the Colt lead to 37-20 with 6:18 left in the game when Feerer scored on a 35-yard run. But the Colts came right back to score the game's final touchdown with 1:57 left on a 2-yard Huerta run to produce the final score of 44-20.

Running back Juan Rodriguez, a member of Valencia's first full senior class who had 34 yards rushing on 11 carries, said that the tone for the Jags' successful season was set during the summer.

"Everyone started committing during the summer, and that's what helped us out a lot," he said. "It got everyone closer than what we were last year, and it helped out the program.

"It feels good to finally do something great for this school because we've been looked down on as the red-headed stepchild of the community. So it feels good."

Lee believes that the Jaguars will use this season as a springboard to future success.

"We expect big things in the future, and we're really proud of our seniors helping establish this tradition," Lee said. "We'll build on it and go farther. We expect to be back in the playoffs in the next few years, and we want to win a whole bunch of these games."