Notre Dame Won't Take Golden Valley Lightly Friday

Notre Dame’s High opponent for tonight’s football game, Golden Valley, has never had a winning season in the program’s seven-year history, but the team got Notre Dame’s respect by defeating the Knights in a summer seven-on-seven passing-league game.

Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Notre Dame, and the Knights (4-0) promise to be ready for anything.

“It’s certainly not a gimme. They pretty us pretty bad in the summer, and they’ve got the athletes to play well and be really successful,” Notre Dame coach Kevin Rooney said.

Golden Valley started slowly under first-year coach Robert Fisher, but the Grizzlies (1-2) defeated Channel Islands 17-10 last week.

“We won’t look past anyone. We’ve worked hard this week in preparing for Golden Valley,” Notre Dame’s Kelly Hilinski said. “We have a solid preaseason schedule, and we’ll be ready tonight. We’re happy to be 4-0, and we look forward to a new opponent every week.”

Hilinski has completed 50.8 percent of his passes for 425 yards and five touchdowns. Khalfani Muhammad has rushed for 588 yards and six touchdowns, and defensive back Kevin Carrasco and defensive lineman Brandon Jett are among several top defensive players.

“Golden Valley is a good football team. We’ve prepared well this week, and we’ve picked up our intensity in practice,” Carrasco said. “We’re looking forward to starting strong and finishing strong.”

Notre Dame is coming off a a 34-12 win at Birmingham, as the Knights have yet to allow more than two touchdowns in a game through the first month.

“Last game, we didn’t play as well as we should have against Birmingham, so we had a good week of practice to play to our potential,” Jett said. “This game, we’re not sure how good Golden Valley is, so we’re going to play this game like it’s for the league championship to set us up with momentum.”

Golden Valley’s Earl Johnson has rushed for 294 yards and two touchdowns, including a 97-yarder, and Reid Soliman has completed 48 percent for 377 yards and two touchdowns. Isa Bey had two interceptions last week.

The toughest part of Notre Dame’s schedule lies ahead. Next week is a difficult showdown with Western Division power Chaminade, followed by Serra League completion in the Pac-5, the Southern Section’s top division. First comes Crespi on Oct. 14, followed by Loyola, Bishop Amat and Alemany. Overall, the league is 18-2, and no one has lost more than one game.

A year ago, Notre Dame finished 2-8 and did not make the playoffs, so the Knights are taking nothing for granted.

“Winning is a lot more fun. Tonight is an opportunity to work on getting better and trying to get ready for some tough games coming up,” Rooney said. “I feel we’re a much better team than last year. We’ve got most of the guys back who played last year, and it’s a pretty determined group. How much of a turnaround is yet to be determined. Obviously, it’s a real tough league, so we’ll see what happens.”

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TONIGHT

Golden Valley (1-2) at Notre Dame (4-0), 7 p.m. -- Notre Dame lost to Golden Valley in a summer passing-league game, but now the pads come on, and it figures to be a different story.

Reseda (2-2) at Van Nuys (4-0), 7 p.m. -- Van Nuys is focused on fundamentals in this step-up game, as the Wolves committed 16 penalties last week in a 50-0 win over Sherman Oaks CES.

"The refs threw too many flags. Two of our kids did a chest bump, and we got called for a celebration penalty," Van Nuys coach Sean Pollard said.