CONCORD — One of the first people Jackson Maher heard from following Friday night’s nonleague football game was Herc Pardi, Clayton Valley High School’s head football coach.

Upon spotting the Vintage quarterback, Pardi came over and complimented Maher on the way he ran the Crushers’ spread offense and stood tall in the line of pressure.

“Hell of a game, great job,” Pardi said.

Maher and the Crushers struggled to get anything going in the first half. But Vintage looked a whole lot better in the second half of a 35-20 loss to Clayton Valley in Contra Costa County.

The offense — and in particular the passing game — started to finally click, as Maher involved a number of different receivers.

“At halftime, we had a motivational talk,” said Maher. “We put it together and just put our heads into the game.

“It’s a huge boost to us, because if we can stay with a team like this and if we can play like we did in the last quarter and a half against everyone else, I don’t think we can be beaten.”

Maher completed 15 of 34 passes for 199 yards with one touchdown pass and two interceptions. But the loss still keeps Vintage (0-3 overall) winless with just two games to go before the Monticello Empire League season starts.

“He did a very good job in the second half,” said Vintage coach Billy Smith. “He settled down. I’m proud of our team playing in the second half.”

Jeff Carruth caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Maher with 57.7 seconds to play.

Before that, Zach Zuniga ran three yards for a touchdown with 34.8 seconds to play in the third quarter as Vintage outscored Clayton Valley (4-0), the defending Diablo Valley Athletic League champion, 13-0 in the second half.

Zuniga’s TD capped a drive of 80 yards in seven plays. It’s the best that Vintage has looked in three games.

“Our kids are going to fight,” Smith said. “Both sides, offense and defense, played really hard in the second half and that’s all we ask them to do.

“We challenged them at halftime — ‘hey, first half’s over. Let’s go play hard in the second half. Let’s see something.’ I think they finally see the things that we can do. We did a lot of good things.”

Brandon Gant returned an interception 55 yards for a first quarter touchdown, accounting for all of Vintage’s points in the first half as the Crushers fell behind 35-7.

Alex Peterson caught seven passes for 82 yards and Carruth had three catches for 48 yards. Reed Huddleston also caught two passes for 42 yards.

“Our line started blocking better and gave Jackson some time in the pocket, and that opened up the receivers and gave us a little bit more time with our routes,” said Peterson.

Clayton Valley took charge in the first half, bolting out to a 21-7 first-quarter lead and a 35-7 advantage at halftime, as Vince Buhagiar scored three touchdowns to power the Eagles.

Buhagiar had touchdown runs from 9 and 8 yards, respectively, and also caught a 17-yard scoring pass from Tyler Fjelbo.

Clayton Valley’s first TD came on Holden Nakamura’s 6-yard run. Jeremy McKillip’s 49-yard touchdown run completed the Eagles’ first-half scoring.

Clayton Valley had very good balance on offense, running and passing the ball with equal efficiency. The Eagles had scoring drives covering 31 yards in four plays, 45 yards in three plays, 60 yards in nine plays, and 94 yards in seven plays as they dominated Vintage.

In the first half alone, Clayton Valley rushed for 219 yards and passed for an additional 90 yards. The Eagles’ ball-control attack also generated 13 first downs in the opening half.

Vintage had just 61 yards of offense in the first half, punting the ball four times, recovering three fumbles and getting five first downs.

“We’re playing with a lot of young kids,” said Smith. “They got a good experience against a good ballclub. This is the third good team in a row and we got better tonight. That’s a good thing.”

Vintage was held to just seven yards of total offense on eight plays in the first quarter. Their longest play of the first half was Maher’s 31-yard pass to Huddleston early in the second quarter, but after driving to the Clayton Valley 23-yard line on the series, Maher was intercepted by Tino Abon.

The Crushers gambled on a fourth down and 9 from their own 42 in the second quarter, and it worked as Zuniga completed a 21-yard pass to Todd Jackson.

Clayton Valley went into the game ranked No. 18 in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Top 25 poll and No. 20 in the Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Top 20.

Clayton Valley went 12-1 overall last year, losing its only game to Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa (17-7) in the CIF North Coast Section Division II finals.

Clayton Valley JV 6, Vintage 0

The Crushers (2-1) lost their first game of the 2009 season Friday night in Concord.

Clayton Valley scored the game’s only touchdown with 1:50 to go on a pass.

Vintage missed a field goal attempt and couldn’t score from the 6-yard line on another possession.

“There was no lack of effort from the kids,” said coach Kyle Schuh. “They played hard. But we became flustered in a close game and missed some opportunities. We just played an undisciplined game — and we will fix that.

“As a staff, our job is to improve.”

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