Kettle Throws 5 TD Passes in Wranglers 48-9 Win: Wisniewski grabs 4 touchdowns, Defense dominates

Photo: 5 Garrett Kettle fires a pass while being under pressure by 11 Clayton Glasco

The Northern Arizona Wranglers improved to (2-1) on the season steamrolling the San Diego Strike Force 48-9, at the Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley.

Wrangler QB Garrett Kettle had a near perfect game, completing 9-11 for 183 yards, 5 touchdowns, in just three quarters of play. Wrangler head coach Les Moss said, “He was great tonight. In fact everybody played about as well as they could. The bye week really helped us. We just need to continue to play and get better. It is a good team win.” Wide receiver Ryan Wisniewski had his best game as a Wrangler so far, catching five passes in the game for 125 yards, four of them going for touchdowns.

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Photo: 10 Ryan Wisniewski scores the first of his four touchdowns, celebrates with 1 Ramuud Chiaokhiao-Bowman

Northern Arizona set the tone early on both sides of the ball. Kettle hit receiver Ryan Wisniewski on a 42 yard scoring strike to start the game.

After the first of four field goal attempts by San Diego, Wisniewski caught his second TD pass, this time for 30 yards and a 14-0 NAZ lead. Another field goal miss by the Strike force, then another touchdown pass from Kettle, the first of two consecutive to Ramuud Chiaokhiao-Bowman, made it 21-0 as the first quarter came to an end. Chiaokhiao-Bowman caught his next TD pass, 20 yards from Kettle to make it 28-0 with 6:22 left in the second quarter.

Kishawn Walker picked of San Diego quarterback Demry Croft, returning it 19 yards to the Strike Force 18. The Wranglers offense sputtered at end the half. Each team turned the ball over on downs, but the Wranglers ended up pinned deep in their own territory. In the final seconds, Jarrod Ware Jr. got caught in the end zone, resulting in a safety, putting the visitors on the board, but still trailing, 28-2 at the half.

Photo: Defensive lineman Nathan Bresson works to get past San Diego’s Jalen Booth

The defense continued to dominate in the second half. Kishawn Walker picked off his second pass, and Theo Majette, Tramond Lofton, and Nathan Bresson, all recorded sacks of the San Diego quarterbacks. Walker led the team with seven tackles.

Photo: Wisniewski celebrates another touchdown

Kettle and Wisniewski teamed up again, this time for a 13 yard touchdown to make it 35-2 early in the third quarter. Kettle said, “We came in with a great plan, and that’s on the coaches. All we have to do is come out and execute, and with the exception of the end of the first half, we did that. When everything is clicking we have all the confidence in the world, and that showed through most of the game today. We have big expectations on ourselves. Coming into this season after a championship is something you want to live up too.”

Kettle was relieved by backup quarterback Nick Watson, who went 7-10 for 84 yards, connecting with Wisniewski on a 35 yard touchdown pass in the first minute of the final quarter. It was the fourth catch and score for Wisniewski, who said, “Great play calling today. Garrett was on fire, and Nick followed that. The throws were right on and I just had to finish. The bye week was huge for us. It gave us more time to get things together, and it really showed what we are capable of today.“

San Diego continued to have empty possessions, but finally broke through offensively with 11:23 left in the game. Aaron Aiken hit Jordan Kress in the end zone on a 15 yard pass play. Kicker Aeden Johnson, who also had a rough afternoon, put the kick through for the extra point.

Jarrod Ware Jr. scored the final TD of the game on a 1 yard run for the 39 point win.

Next up for the Wranglers will be a Sunday night contest at Bay Area. Kickoff set for 5:05 pm, and can be seen on the IF YouTube channel.