Photo: Uriah Tenette gave the Vista Grande defense fits while trying to bring him down
The Prescott Badgers built a three score lead, but needed one final defensive stop to beat the Vista Grande Spartans 31-26 in a battle of the unbeatens at Bill Shepard Field.
The Spartans, ranked #7 coming in, never led in the game, while the Badgers took advantage of three Spartan turnovers, and despite the losers chippy play, Prescott was able to hang on the for the win to improve to (3-1) on the season. Vista Grande falls to (3-1). The game started off as any other high school game, but as the Badgers built a lead, so did the frustration and undisciplined behavior by the Spartans.
Photo: Cooper Kasun working his past the Vista Grande defender for the first touchdown of the game
The first big break of the game came when Uriah Tenette picked off a Vista Grande pass at the Badgers 26 yard line. Tenette fired a pass to a wide open Cooper Kasun who went the distance for a 74 yard scoring strike. Johnann Gundermann’s extra point gave Prescott a 7-0 lead with 7:56 left in the opening quarter. Kasun said, ““I was wide open and Uriah got me the ball. I was able to get past a couple of their defenders for the touchdown. That felt great and got us off to a good start.”
The Spartans offense responded with a time consuming drive capped off with a 9 yard run by starting quarterback Brenden Hunt to tie the game at seven at the end of the quarter.
Uriah Tenette used his legs to scamper 21 yards around the far side giving Prescott a 14-7 lead two minutes into the second quarter.
Vista Grande responded again, this time with a 72 yard pass from Hunt to Eltorna Gant to tie the game at 14.
Photo: Johann Gundermann on his way for the second quarter touchdown
The Badgers took a 21-14 lead on a third and ten play with Tenette’s pass getting over the defenders and to an open Gundermann, who was back peddling to catch the ball then turned towards the home stands to run it in from there. Gundermann said, “ I just ran past the backs and looked back and there was the ball. I had to put on a move to get past and score.”
A second Spartan turnover was a fumble that was recovered by Josiah Peoples at the Vista Grande 45. Prescott was unable to do anything but burn some clock. The Spartans were forced to punt after a combination of penalties and good Badger “D”, with less than a minute to play in the half. Prescott closed out a good half of football with a 35 yard field goal by Gundermann to lead 24-14 at the break.
A huge play started the second half as the Badgers were set to receive. The kickoff went out of bounds, but in a somewhat unusual move declined the penalty to make Vista Grande kick again. Turned out to be a great call by coach Cody Collette. The result was Josiah Peoples literally flying 89 yards down the field, taking it to the house, putting Prescott up 31-14. Peoples said, “It feels great that coach has the confidence in me to decline that penalty. I didn’t feel any pressure, but I knew I wanted to do something special. At the time that put us up three scores, but we seemed to get off our game after the skirmish. ”
Trailing by 17, some of the Spartans danced on the field during a timeout, but Vista Grande’s frustration finally boiled over with 11:05 left when they overly aggressively tackled Tenette. A late hit followed and a few Badgers took offense to that. Suddenly many more Spartans came over in front of the Badger bench. A few shoves and pleasantries were exchanged resulting in unsportsmanlike penalties on both teams. The referees sent both teams to their sidelines and composure was somewhat regained down the stretch.
The Badgers were unable to get a first down and punted. Vista Grande was finally able to move the ball and scored on a 14 yard pass play from backup quarterback Eltorna Gant to Fernando Moya to close the gap to 31-20. The two point conversion failed with 7:10 remaining and the score remained 31-20.
Prescott’s offense was stopped again, forcing another punt. The Spartans moved the ball down the field and score with 2:23 remaining on a 11 yard run by Gant. Another two point conversion attempt pass play failed, but the Prescott lead was down to 31-26.
Vista Grande’s onside kick went long and Tenette, playing back like a safety, fell on the ball. The offense failed to get a first down again and had to punt with under a minute to play. The Badger defense stepped up and held on for the big win.
Tenette, who rushed for 45 yards and a TD and was 5-10 for 177 yards with 2 touchdowns and had two interceptions, said, “We came in knowing it would be a battle. They are a good team and play hard every play. We were able to capitalize on their turnovers to build a good lead. We did not finish the game like we should have. We need to be able to respond in a positive way when we get challenged by the way they play the game.”
After the game, the Badgers elected to go to the locker room rather than do their postgame activities on the field due to some Vista Grande players coming over the home sideline. Thankfully nothing further came about from the tacky behavior from the visiting team. After all, this is a team that won’t even come out onto the field for the national anthem.
Johann Gundermann, who remains perfect with 18 straight extra points, said, “This was a big win for us. We knew it would be a physical game. Big hits on both sides and we took what they gave us. We continue to grow as a team and get better each week. Now we get an undefeated team as another challenge next week.”
Cooper Kasun added, “This was huge for us tonight. Getting another win against a top ten team, but we did not play like we should have in the second half. After the altercation we seemed like we lost our focus. That needs to change.”
Adam Lloyd was the Badgers leading rusher with 58 yards in 18 carries. Tenette’s passes went to four receivers, Gundermann, Peoples, Kasun, and Eli Allen who pulled a pair in, as the group averaged 35 yards per catch.
The defense battled hard and played a great game despite being undersized to the Spartans. Defensively Brody Hanna had a very busy night with 17 tackles, Cooper Kasun and Adam Lloyd each had 11. Frankie Jaume had a big sack and Kasun and Peoples shared in another.
The Badgers, ranked #10 in Maxpreps rankings will definitely move up and will face another unbeaten next Friday as they return to Bill Shepard Field for a game versus the Combs Coyotes. Kickoff is 7 pm.
PRESCOTT BADGERS 31, VISTA GRANDE SPARTANS 26
Score by Quarters- 1 2 3 4 – T
Vista Grande 7 7 0 12 – 26
Prescott 7 17 7 0 – 31
Scoring Summary
P-Kasun 74 yard pass from Tenette (Gundermann kick)
VG-Hunt 9 yard run (Hernandez kick)
P-Tenette 21 yard run (Gundermann kick)
VG- Gant 72 yard pass from Hunt (Hernandez kick)
P-Gundermann 60 yard pass from Tenette (Gundermann kick)
P-Gundermann 35 yard Field Goal
P-Peoples 89 yard kickoff return (Gundrmann kick)
VG-Moya 14 yard pass from Gant (Pass failed)
VG-Gant 11 yard run (Pass failed)
Bradshaw Mountain vs. St. Mary’s
The Bradshaw Mountain Bears even their record at (2-2) with a 21-20 win in Phoenix. The Knights scored a late touchdown but missed a chance to tie the game. St. Mary’s also drops to (2-2) and will travel to play Yuma Catholic on Friday. The Bears will host Apache Junction on Friday at 7 pm.
BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN BEARS 21, ST. MARY’S 20
Score by Quarters- 1 2 3 4 – T
Bradshaw Mountain 0 7 7 7 – 21
St. Mary’s 0 0 7 13 – 20
No scoring Summary available.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
PRESCOTT 31, Vista Grande 26
Bradshaw Mountain 21, St. Mary’s 20
ALA-Gilbert North 56, Paradise Valley 7
ALA-Queen Creek 41, Sandra day O’Connor 13
Apache Junction 33, San Tan Foothills 20
Arcadia 19, Coconino 17
AZ College Prep 34, Eastmark 0
Bagdad 46, Desert Heights Prep 0
Benson 14, Tombstone 12
Blue Ridge 22, Morenci 8
Brophy Prep 24, Perry 20
Cactus Shadows 55, Boulder Creek 28
Camp Verde 54, Mountainside 15
Canyon Del Oro 27, Amphitheater 0
Carl Hayden 28, Sierra Linda 19
Casteel 45, Mountain Ridge 6
Chaminade (CA) 35, Saguaro 14
Chandler 49, Corona Del Sol 6
Combs 55, Maryvale 8
Coronado 42, Valley Lutheran 38
Cortez 43, Highland Prep 12
Deer Valley 40, La Joya Community 12
Desert Mountain 44, Cactus 0
Dysart 42, Greenway 35
El Capitan 62, Joseph City 0
Empire 37, Pueblo 20
Estrella Foothills 32, Buckeye 14
Flagstaff 22, Desert Sunrise 12
Flowing Wells 47, Sahuarita 16
Gilbert 45, Mesquite 15
Higley 39, Desert Edge 14
Holbrook 60, Valley Sanders 0
Independence 35, Washington 0
McClintock 62, South Mountain 12
Mesa 41, Dobson 7
Mingus 39, Copper Canyon 7 31, Basha 28
Mission Viejo (CA)
Mogollon 66, St. Davis 36
Mohave 36, Kingman 6
Mohave Accelerated 61, Mayer 8
Moon Valley 34, Lee Williams 18
Mountain Pointe 1, Central 0
Northwest Christian 31, Peoria 28
Page 48, Monument Valley 20
Paradise Honors 30, Show Low 25
Payson 49, Fountain Hills 0
Red Mountain 35, Downey (CA) 32
River Valley 15, Wickenburg 8
Round Valley 25, Poston Butte 24
Skyline 56, North Canyon 12
Tempe 36, Odyssey Institute 0
Veritas Prep 35, Shadow Mountain 13
Walden Grove 27, Cienega 10
Westview 27, North 7
Westwood 23, Shadow Ridge 3
Williams 60, Salome 6
Winslow 49, Ganado 6
Youngker 39, Marcos de Niza 20
Yuma 30, Kofa 7
Yuma Catholic 19, Thatcher 12
