THE VALLEY HAS BEEN WARNED

MORENO VALLEY IS 3–0, JAHSIAH SIO JUST RAN FOR 213, AND WILLIAM DAVIS’ SEVEN TOUCHDOWN PASSES ARE GIVING THE VIKINGS A COMPLETE OFFENSIVE IDENTITY

MORENO VALLEY, CA — Three games are enough to start seeing patterns.

For Moreno Valley High School, the pattern has been difficult to ignore.

38–7.

45–0.

28–14.

Three games. Three victories.

The Moreno Valley Vikings are 3–0, have scored 111 points and have allowed only 21. That translates to an offense averaging 37 points per game and a defense surrendering just seven per game.

But the story developing at Moreno Valley is bigger than an unbeaten record.

It is about an offensive identity that is becoming increasingly clear.

Junior running back Jahsiah Sio has developed into the centerpiece of one of the area's most productive ground attacks.

And beside him, junior quarterback William Davis is giving the Vikings the balance they need to make selling out against the run a dangerous proposition.

The result is a Moreno Valley offense that is no longer winning in just one way.

The Vikings can run it.

They can throw it.

They can create explosive plays.

And three weeks into the season, nobody has beaten them.

213 YARDS — AND SIO KEEPS CLIMBING

Tahquitz knew exactly who No. 6 was.

It didn't stop him.

Sio rushed for 213 yards and a touchdown in Moreno Valley's 28–14 victory, his largest rushing performance of the young season.

That came after 195 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries against Eisenhower in the opener.

Then he followed that performance with 185 yards and two more touchdowns against Arroyo Valley while averaging 10.9 yards per carry. He also contributed 38 receiving yards in that game.

Now put all three performances together:

195 yards.

185 yards.

213 yards.

That's 593 rushing yards through three games.

That's an average of 197.7 rushing yards per game.

And that's five rushing touchdowns.

Those aren't numbers created by one breakout performance.

They show consistency.

Sio has been over 180 yards in every game Moreno Valley has played.

There is a major difference between having one spectacular Friday night and forcing defensive coordinators to build their weekly game plan around you.

Sio has reached the second category.

The Vikings know where their offensive foundation begins.

It begins with No. 6.

BUT WILLIAM DAVIS CHANGES THE EQUATION

There is an obvious response when a running back starts approaching 200 yards every Friday.

Bring another defender into the box.

Crowd the line of scrimmage.

Force somebody else to beat you.

That's where William Davis becomes so important.

The junior quarterback isn't being asked to throw the football 40 or 50 times a night.

He doesn't need to.

His job is to operate the offense, recognize what the defense is giving Moreno Valley and make opponents pay when too much attention shifts toward Sio.

And through three games, Davis has now accounted for seven touchdown passes.

His first varsity start of the season gave an early indication of what was coming.

Against Eisenhower, Davis threw for 146 yards and two touchdowns in the Vikings' 38–7 victory.

Through the first two games reflected on the public statistical leaderboard, Davis completed 24 of 38 passes for 246 yards, a 63.2 percent completion rate.

The updated touchdown total tells the more important story.

Seven touchdown passes in three victories.

Moreno Valley doesn't need Davis chasing passing-yard records.

It needs him making defenses wrong.

If the secondary starts creeping forward to stop Sio, Davis has to find the opening behind it.

If linebackers start triggering downhill, the football has to get outside.

And if a defense decides it won't allow Sio to beat it, Moreno Valley has to prove somebody else can.

So far, Davis has provided that answer.

THE RUNNING GAME ISN'T A SLOGAN — IT'S PRODUCTION

The individual numbers from Sio are spectacular.

The team numbers show this isn't accidental.

Moreno Valley rushed for 279 yards against Eisenhower.

The Vikings followed with 234 rushing yards against Arroyo Valley.

Then came another 233 rushing yards against Tahquitz.

That's 746 team rushing yards through three games.

Almost 249 rushing yards per game.

That is an identity.

Moreno Valley can dress things up offensively, use its receivers and allow Davis to distribute the ball, but eventually opponents still have to deal with the same fundamental question:

Can you stop the Vikings from running the football?

Three opponents have tried.

Moreno Valley is still undefeated.

TAHQUITZ PROVIDED A DIFFERENT TEST

The 28–14 victory may actually say more about Moreno Valley than either of the first two games.

Eisenhower became a convincing 38–7 victory.

Arroyo Valley became a 45–0 shutout.

Tahquitz was different.

The Titans scored first.

Moreno Valley had to respond.

And the Vikings did.

By the end of the third quarter, Moreno Valley had taken a 28–7 lead. Touchdowns came from Brae'Onn Mathews, Jahsiah Sio, Ricky Jaramillo and Darius Allen before Tahquitz added a late score to produce the 28–14 final.

That matters because dominant teams eventually have to prove they can play from a position other than complete control.

Moreno Valley got hit first.

Then Moreno Valley took over.

THE DEFENSE IS MAKING THE OFFENSE EVEN MORE DANGEROUS

The Vikings haven't reached 3–0 on offense alone.

Their defense has allowed 21 points in three games, including an entire-game shutout against Arroyo Valley.

Against Tahquitz, the front seven produced five sacks.

Efrain Martinez, Armani Valencia and Bryan Orozco were among the defenders creating pressure and consistently affecting the pocket.

The current team leaders also show Martinez at 6.7 tackles per game, Orozco at 1.5 sacks, and Calvin Payne as the interception leader.

That defense complements the offense perfectly.

When Moreno Valley establishes its running game, drives become longer.

When those drives produce points, opponents begin playing from behind.

When opponents become increasingly dependent on the passing game, the Vikings' defensive front gets more opportunities to attack.

That's how a good running game and an aggressive defense begin feeding each other.

And that's how a 3–0 start becomes 111 points scored against only 21 allowed.

THIS OFFENSE IS MORE THAN SIO

Sio deserves to be one of the central stories.

He has earned it.

But Moreno Valley becomes considerably harder to defend when the players around him are producing too.

Ricky Jaramillo has already demonstrated his ability to become a scoring threat. In the 45–0 win over Arroyo Valley, Jaramillo recorded two receiving touchdowns and another touchdown on the ground.

Senior receiver Jaron Hill currently leads Moreno Valley at 38.3 receiving yards per game.

Mathews scored against Tahquitz.

Allen scored against Tahquitz.

Jaramillo scored against Tahquitz.

Sio scored against Tahquitz.

That's four different players finding the end zone in the same game.

That's important.

Because eventually someone is going to decide that stopping Sio is the entire game plan.

Moreno Valley needs enough weapons to make that decision hurt.

It appears to have them.

TWO JUNIORS ARE DRIVING THIS THING

Perhaps the most intriguing part of Moreno Valley's offensive start is the class year beside its two biggest names.

Jahsiah Sio — junior.

William Davis — junior.

Neither is a senior playing his final season of high-school football.

Both are producing right now.

Sio already has 593 rushing yards.

Davis already has seven touchdown passes.

And Moreno Valley hasn't lost.

That's significant for the present.

It could be even more significant for where this program is headed.

NOW COMES VISTA DEL LAGO

There is no need to manufacture excitement around the next one.

Moreno Valley hosts Vista Del Lago on Thursday, September 10 at 7 p.m.

The Vikings enter at 3–0.

Vista enters with momentum of its own after its 41–28 victory over Valley View.

And Moreno Valley now has an opportunity to take what it has built through three weeks and test it against another talented team from its own city.

That means Sio.

That means Davis.

That means the offensive line.

That means a Vikings defense allowing only seven points per game.

And it means a Moreno Valley team that no longer needs to be introduced as a program that might be dangerous.

The scoreboard has already introduced them.

38–7.

45–0.

28–14.

3–0 IS THE STORY. BALANCE IS THE WARNING.

There is still a long season ahead.

Three games don't produce championships.

They don't determine league titles.

And they don't guarantee what happens next.

But three games can reveal what a football team is becoming.

Moreno Valley is becoming physical.

Moreno Valley is becoming balanced.

Moreno Valley is getting elite early-season production from its running back.

And Moreno Valley has a quarterback producing touchdowns while operating an offense that doesn't require him to carry everything himself.

Jahsiah Sio: 593 rushing yards, 197.7 per game, five touchdowns.

William Davis: seven touchdown passes.

Moreno Valley: 3–0.

111 points scored.

21 points allowed.

That's the accurate story right now.

No need to exaggerate it.

The numbers are already loud enough.