The West Valley Wolves’ quest to establish themselves as a force in the Pacific Coast Football League got a boost Saturday with a 28-20 win over the Stockton Hurricanes.

The Wolves (3-2) went into the game expecting a tough showdown between the PCFL’s two San Joaquin Valley teams.

The Tracy squad stayed in control from the first touchdown on, but the Hurricanes (1-4) made it a close game the end.

“It’s growth in our program,” Wolves head coach Ira Ayers said, adding that Hurricanes, who went 9-1 in the Central Valley Football League’s National Division and finished as league runner-up, are the Wolves’ local rival in the PCFL.

“It was very important to our team to not only come out and be successful, but to come out and really start to make a name for ourselves,” Ayers said. “We still have far to go, but we’re moving in the right direction.”

West Valley had a 14-8 lead at the half thanks to a 2-yard first-quarter touchdown run from running back Antoine Williams and a 7-yard rush from quarterback Teddy Anderson.

“The defense did their job,” Williams said. “I saw the hole. I hesitated for a minute and then just took it.”

The Hurricanes got on the scoreboard in the second quarter on a screen pass that was good for a 40-yard touchdown.

Running back Dominic Miller led the ground attack, as the Wolves opened the third quarter with a 93-yard drive ending with Teddy Anderson’s 10-yard touchdown pass to his brother, tight end Dakota Anderson.

But the Hurricanes soon made up for the Wolves’ drive, covering 53 yards on a punt fake and scoring on a 1-yard run on the next series.

The Wolves answered with Cliff Brown’s 40-yard kickoff return, and C.J. Smith pulled in a 30-yard pass to get the Wolves to the Hurricanes’ 6-yard line.

The 5-yard touchdown pass was Anderson-to-Anderson again, and Jason Winter ran in a 2-point conversion to make it a 28-14 game at the close of the third quarter.

“The line stepped up and did really a good job, and we got those long runs,” Dakota Anderson said. “It was just all of those plays that got us there. Once we got there, our package that we have for goal line stepped it up and we got in the end zone.”

The Hurricanes made a steady drive and 3-yard touchdown pass to cut the Wolves’ lead to 28-20 with 2 minutes, 35 seconds left, but they couldn’t recover the onside kick. While they held the Wolves to three-and-out, they didn’t have enough time to move up the field before the Wolves’ Carnell Williams sacked the Stockton quarterback on the last play of the game.