TOPPENISH – The East Valley football team, reloading after graduation claimed all but two starters from its conference championship squad, continued to crush a steep learning curve Friday night.

Its ability to bounce back on display in a 34-14 victory against Toppenish at Bob Winters Field.

Time after time against the Wildcats, the Red Devils were able to shrug off setbacks, and respond quickly.

No better was that on display than early in the third quarter when Toppenish quarterback Lupillo Cisneros hit Moses Melgoza in stride behind the East Valley for a 68-yard touchdown on the third play from scrimmage after the break to lift the Wildcats to a 14-13 victory.

On the ensuing kickoff, Peyton Chapman picked the kickoff off the artificial turf after it had skidded to a stop at about the 25-yard line, and raced the other way, finally being caught at the 7-yard line.

Fellow sophomore Zayden Wade capped the quick answer with his second of three touchdowns in the game on the next snap.

“We know we’re not going to have games like we did last year, every Friday is going to be a battle,” East Valley coach Eric Berg said. “The kids responded really well tonight. We got a lot of young kids, to see their maturity, and for them to make the big plays to spark the sidelines.The rest of the team followed.”

Wade finished with 127 yards on 21 carries, also scoring on a 17-yard run and from a yard out.

Quarterback Liam Peterson, another 10th-grader, came off the bench Friday after not feeling well earlier in the week, and ran for a 1-yard score and connected with Chapman for a 48-yard score.

“I feel like we have a lot of leaders on this team,” Peterson said. “Everybody is picking each other up, and everybody is positive.”

Those leaders helped organize a players-led team meeting after a choppy 18-14 win last week at Ephrata, where teams have seen their conference championship hopes derailed.

“We just wanted to get everybody together and make it clear that was not our top performance, and we know it, and we have to perform at practice to make the game easier,” Peterson said.

East Valley’s defensive front hemmed in Toppenish’s rushing attack that accounted for six scoring runs in a Week 1 victory against Grandview. Cisneros was able to find Izzy Diaz for a 66-yard catch-and-run that looked quite like the Wildcats score to start the second half.

The Red Devils had two interceptions in the contest, including one by senior Max Cuevas at the 2-yard line after Melgoza’s would-be 72-yard kickoff return touchdown in the fourth quarter was called back because of an unsportsmanlike penalty before he crossed the goal line.

East Valley (3-0 overall, 2-0 CWAC) returns home next week and will meet Quincy for Homecoming, before heading to Ellensburg. The back end of the Red Devils schedule includes a home contest against Othello, and trips to Prosser and Selah.

“We know what we have, and we have kids who work really hard and believe in what we’re doing and the system that we have,” Ber said. “The growth that we saw tonight from the team was really cool to see and a little unexpected and really nice to see.”

Toppenish (2-1, 1-1) hosts winless Ellensburg next week.