Photo: 4 Ruben Solano gets tackled by a pair of Cobras
Prescott at Washington
Despite missing their head the coach, the Prescott Badgers beat the Washington Rams 56-18 in Phoenix last night. Coach Collett suffered a heart attack and will be out, till he and his doctors feel it is the right time for his return. In the meantime, assistant coach Branden Johnson will be guiding the Badgers.
The Rams struck quickly, taking the opening kickoff 88 yards down the far sideline by Demetrius Harmon. A bad snap cost the Ram a chance to tack on the seventh point, leaving the score 6-0.
The Badgers got busy quickly moving the ball down the field, capped off by a nice zigzagging run by Cody Leopold. Cole Gross added the kick for a 7-6 lead with 8:44 left in the opening quarter.
After each team had some hiccups, aka penalties, Prescott took the lead on Cody Leopold’s second TD run with 2:44 left in the first quarter, after a blocked punt set the offense up at the Rams 40.
Washington struck back on the very next offensive play when Gabriel Segovia hit Kewade Hillman on a slant pattern, going 75 yards to the house. The two point attempt failed, leaving the Badgers up 13-12.
After a Badger punt, the Rams picked up another big play touchdown, as Harmon bolted 79 yards down the middle of the field. The run for two failed again, but Washington now had a 18-13 lead two minutes into the second quarter.
Prescott would score four times in the second quarter to take a 23 point lead into halftime. Cervando Vega setup the offense inside the Rams 40 with a good kickoff return, but a holding call put the ball back at the Prescott 41. The Badgers were able to gobble up yards, finally scoring to take the lead on a 5 yard run by Cody Hanna. Jake Hilton ran a sweep down the Badger sideline for 46 yards to make it 26-18. Hanna scored a second time from one yard out and finally Jaxon Rice threw his first touchdown pass of the season to Landen Aurich, his first of three TD receptions on the night.
Leading 41-18 at the half, the Badgers opted to go with Alex Vaughan at quarterback. Vaughan had been under the weather, resulting in Rice getting the start. Vaughan showed no signs of weakness, competing 2-3 for 68 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to Aurich. Rice finished with 92 yards and a TD in 5-10 passing.
Cody Leopold had another big game rushing for 176 yards on 22 carries and two TDs. Cian McKelvey hit the century mark on 16 carries. Prescott as a team rushed for 385 yards in the contest. The “O” line of Noah Coroneos, Landen Francis, Greg Bickel, Nathan Norvel, Macrae Kasun, and Christopher Brown took it to the Rams creating numerous opportunities for the backs to succeed. Landen Aurich’s receptions all went for touchdowns and 111 yards.
Defensively, it was the Cody’s in Hanna and Leopold who led the Badgers in tackles, combining for 17,
Prescott improves to (3-0) and will travel to Kingman next Friday to take on Lee Williams. Washington dropped to (0-2).
PRESCOTT BADGERS 56, WASHINGTON RAMS 18
Score by Quarters- 1 2 3 4 – T
Prescott 13 28 8 7 – 56
Washington 12 6 0 0 – 18
Scoring Summary
W-Harmon 88 yd kickoff return (Attempt failed)
P-Leopold 33 yd run (Gross kick)
P-Loepold 10 yd run (Kick failed)
W-Hillman 75 yd pass from Segovia (Run failed)
W-Harmon 79 yd run (Run failed)
P-Hanna 5 yd run (Gross kick)
P-Hilton 46 yd run (Run failed)
P-Hanna 1 yd run (Leopold run)
P-Aurich 44 yd pass from Rice (Gross kick)
P-Aurich 38 yd pass from Vaughan (Vaughan run)
P-Aurich 29 yd pass from Vaughan (Gross kick)
Cactus at Bradshaw Mountain
The term speed kills was true to form Friday night in Prescott Valley as the Cactus Cobras had plenty of speed to beat the Bradshaw Mountain Bears 56-13.
It was the home opener for the Bears and they were put up against a team that finished 4A state runner up last season. Mesquite beat Cactus 39-38 to win the 4A championship.
Cactus (3-0) had already scored 112 points in their first two contests, but it did not look like they would get close to 56 points in the first half.
The Bears led 7-0 after the first quarter when Gabriel Ricketts plowed into the end zone from one yard out. The drive was setup by a Cobra fumble at the Cactus 23. The short field proved profitable, but unfortunately that would be the offensive highlight for the home team in the first half.
Penalties were the problem for the Cobras in the first half, but they did managed to overcome their own mistakes with 5:22 left in the half. Daniel Avila drilled Rameel Yaro on a 39 yard scoring strike to tie the game at 7.
On the following possession the Bears made a costly mistake on a punt, leading to the Cactus go ahead score with 2:55 in the second quarter. Will Gavan bolted in from 18 yard and a 14 -7 lead. Bradshaw Mountain was lucky to withstand one final scoring attempt, as a pass from Galvan into the end zone was picked off by Braden Shoemaker with :37 left.
Bradshaw Mountain received the second half kickoff, but struggled again on offense. The speed of Cactus, and physicality on both sides of the ball was starting to wear on the Bears.
Galvan, who finished with three rushing touchdowns, scored the next two, rushing for 33 yards and 11 yards to make it 26-7.
Quarterback Grady Rose through a pass to Tanner Mitchell for a 68 score to pull the Bears to within 26-13, with 2:31 left in the third quarter.
The Cobras would score three touchdowns and three two point conversions running the score up to 56.
Bradshaw Mountain (1-2) will travel next Friday to face Youngker, while Cactus will also be on the road at Sunrise Mountain.
CACTUS COBRAS 56, BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN BEARS 13
Score by Quarters – 1 2 3 4 – T
Cactus 0 14 18 24 – 56
Bradshaw Mountain 7 0 6 0 – 13
Scoring Summary
BM-Ricketts 1 yd run (Rice kick)
C-Avila 39 yd pass to Yaro (Yaro kick)
C-Galvan 18 yad run (Yaro kick)
C-Galvan 33 yd run (Run failed)
C-Galvan 11 yd run (Run failed)
BM-Mitchell 68 yard pass from Rose (Kick blocked)
C-Jiles 1 yd run (Galvan run)
C-Banuelos 10 yd pass from Galvan (Kick failed)
C-Bauelos 67 yd punt return (Galvan to Thomas)
C-Lagafuania 25 yd run (Galvan rush)
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS SCOREBOARD
Chino Valley 42, Tuba City 0
Bagdad 54, Desert Heights Prep 6
Camp Verde 46, Heritage Academy Laveen 6
Williams 68, Mayer 0
Apache Junction 51, Youngker 38
Coconino 26, Cactus Shadows 24
Flagstaff 49, Mingus 42
Glendale 14, Apollo 12
Lee Williams 55, North Canyon 30
Mesquite 39, Combs 22
Mogollon 48, St. David 26
Mohave 35, San Tan Foothills 8
Seton Catholic 51, Benjamin Franklin 48
Snowflake 41, Blue Ridge 0
Wickenburg 67, Paradise Honors 22
Volleyball
The Badgers made it three in a row with a 3-0 sweep over the Marcos de Niza Padres, at Prescott High School.
Prescott improves to (4-3), while Marcos de Niza drops to (2-3). The Badgers will host Lee Williams on Tuesday at 6pm.
PRESCOTT BADGERS 3, MARCOS DE NIZA 0
Games – 1 2 3
Marcos de Niza 20 8 18
Prescott 25 25 25