Photo: 1 Uriah Tenette with a move on the Bear defenders
The Prescott Badgers won the battle of consuming drives with a 27-17 win over the Bradshaw Mountain Bears in Prescott Valley. Uriah Tenette rushed for two touchdowns and threw for one more in the win that snapped a three game regular season losing streak to their rival.
The Bears did what they do best on their opening drive and that was burn up the clock by running the ball. Kylin Jackson capped off a 12 play 82 yard drive with a 6 yard run off tackle to the home side to score the first touchdown of the game. Trevor Head added extra point to put the Bears on top 7-0 midway through the first quarter.
The Badgers offense was a mix of runs, passes, and penalties resulting in a third and 25 at the Bears 38. After a Prescott timeout, Uriah Tenette’s intended pass for Cooper Kasun was tipped and picked off by Dreyvan Gilbert at the Bradshaw Mountain 25 bringing an end to the 11 play drive.
Photo: 49 Cooper Kasun with the catch
Up 7-0, the second quarter saw the Bears attempting to duplicate their first drive. The Badger defense came through when Brody Hanna made a big tackle on fourth down at the Prescott 23 stopping the Bears drive after another 13 plays that included the first pass by quarterback Michael Sanford on their 18th play of the game that fell incomplete.
Prescott got the equalizer when Tenette faked the handoff up the middle to Lloyd and went around the left end to get into the end zone untouched from 10 yards out on his 6th rushing TD of the season. Johann Gundermann added the kick for a 7-7 tie with 6:38 remaining in the second quarter.
Photo: 32 Brody Hanna is about to bring down Brayden Munday
The Bears offense sputtered and the first punt came in the game after Sanford fell on a loose ball, and Brody Hanna brought down Brayden Munday for a loss. The Prescott took over the ball at their own 32.
The Badgers moved the ball down the field with a chance to take the lead at the end of the half. Foregoing a field goal attempt, Prescott opted to run a play with seven seconds left. Tenette’s pass fell incomplete and the two teams went to the locker room tied at seven.
The second half would see Johann Gundermann make two very big plays that helped determine the outcome of the game. First Gundermann gave the Prescott fans and his team a huge lift when he took the second half kickoff and flew 95 yards down the field for the go ahead score. Perhaps gassed by the long run he just missed the extra point leaving the score at 13-7.
Bradshaw Mountain responded with Michael Sanford’s first completion on a 36 yard pass to Gage Benjamin who took it to the Badgers 10. Three plays later Sanford scored from one yard put to Bears up 14-13.
The home team opted to kick short this time and Bruhshaun Lott returned the ball up to the 39. Bradshaw Mountain got the penalty bug and three gave the Badgers 25 additional yards helping set up the Prescott score. The Badgers returned that favor giving back those 25 yards with three penalties too. In the end it all worked out though.
In a very unlikely occurrence, Tenette pulled a rabbit out of his hat on fourth and 33 at the Bradshaw Mountain 38, a pass to the end zone was pulled in by Gundermann as the Badger faithful erupted as a stony silence engulfed the Bears fans.
Bradshaw Mountain next drive stalled when Sanford was about to attempt just his fourth pass of the game, but was sacked by Cooper Kasun. Head added the field goal from 29 yards to pull the Bears within 20-17 with 10:28 remaining.
From there it was all Badgers who maintained a back breaking drive using of 9:45 of the clock while going 80 yards on 20 plays. Lloyd said, “My “O” line deserves a lot of credit tonight. They did a great job creating the holes to get the yardage. It was a matter of protecting the ball, getting first downs, and staying in bounds to keep the clock running. It was a big win over us.”
Photo: 21 Adam Lloyd carried the ball 11 times in the final drive
Tenette and company methodically worked the ball down the field. Lloyd got the majority of the calls with 11, and picking up first downs, along with burning the play clock down each time used up almost the remainder of game time. On fourth down, Tenette leaped over the line from one yard out to get the game clinching touchdown.
Tenette said, “Definitely a big win for us tonight. We really wanted this game and knew what we needed to do. We knew they were going to ground and pound and we grounded pounded right back at them. Johann came up big in the second half. He returned the kickoff touchdown and caught that fourth down pass for the touchdown. That kick return was huge to start the second half and we took the energy from that for the remainder of the game.”
Peoples said, “Big win for us, but it didn’t start out that way. They were running the ball down our throats. There was a lot of yelling at halftime. I was switched to nose guard which I think helped us slow down their running attack. We all know some of their players so beating Bradshaw is something we all wanted after the last two seasons.”
Gundermann said, “I was really mad at myself after dropping that pass in the first half that I should have made. Instead of beating myself up about it, I decided I was going to turn that into a positive. So when the ball was kicked to me, I saw some space and just took off.”
Looking forward, Gundermann added, ”Every game now is like a playoff game. We know we are going to get every teams best effort and have to come out prepared. We did not really do that in the first half, but turned it around. Now we can focus on Coconino next Friday.”
Led by Kylin Jackson with 138 yards, Bradshaw Mountain rushed for 272 yards in the game, with 163 of those coming in the first half. Kaleb Dekens had 73 yards, and senior Brayden Munday with 37. Quarterback Michael Sanford completed two out of seven for 41 yards.
Prescott was led by quarterback Uriah Tenette who rushed for 92 yards on eleven carries with two touchdowns. Tenette threw for 134 yards and one touchdown completing ten out of eighteen attempts with one interception. Adam Lloyd carried the ball 11 times in the final drive, ending with 89 yards on 21 carries.
Gundermann had only one catch, but it was huge, a 38 yard reception on fourth and 33. Three other receivers had receptions. Josiah Peoples 4-37 yards, Cooper Kasun 3-45 yards, Eli Allen 2-14.
#8 Prescott improves to (7-1) overall, (3-0) in the Grand Canyon Region. #12 Bradshaw Mountain drops to (5-3), and (2-1). The Bears travel to face Flagstaff on Thursday for a Halloween showdown at 7 pm. The Badgers will host Coconino on Friday at 7 pm.
PRESCOTT BADGERS 27, BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN BEARS 17
Score by Quarters- 1 2 3 4 – T
Prescott 0 7 13 7 – 27
Bradshaw Mountain 7 0 7 3 – 17
Scoring Summary
BM-Jackson 6 yard run (Head kick)
P-Tenette 10 yard run (Gundermann kick)
P-Gundermann 95 yard kickoff return (Kick failed)
BM-Sanford 1 yard run (Head kick)
P-Gundermann 38 yard pass from Tenette (Gundermann kick)
BM-Head 29 yard field goal
P-Tenette 1 yard run (Gundermann kick)
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS SCOREBOARD
Wickenburg 40, Chino Valley 0
Alhambra 30, Maryvale 0
Amphitheater 31, Rio Rico 14
Arcadia 24, Combs 15
AZ College Prep 69, Desert Sunrise 0
Basha 38, Chandler 27
Boulder Creek 56, Valley Vista 6
Cactus 53, Sunrise Mountain 0
Cactus Shadows 28, Notre Dame Prep 21
Camp Verde 46, Highland Prep 8
Canyon Del Oro 37, Pueblo 13
Central 25, Betty Fairfax 0
Coconino 49, Mingus 12
Cortez 14, Kingman Academy 12
Deer Valley 50, Copper Canyon 0
Empire 48, Cholla 6
Flagstaff 34, Lee Williams 28, OT
Holbrook 26, Pinon 24
Lake Havasu 27, Marcos de Niza 14
Liberty 43, Saguaro 14
Marana 51, Buena 38
Mica Mountain 50, Sahuaro 0
Mohave 14, River Valley 0
Moon Valley 14, Greenway 6
Northwest Christian 31, St. Mary’s 14
Page 38, Winslow 27
Paradise Honors 34, Yuma 0
Peoria 42, Glendale 27
Poston Butte 57, Apache Junction 14
Queen Creek 28, Red Mountain 23
Sahuarita 38, Rincon/University 6
Scottsdale Christian 68, Madison Highland 0
Scottsdale Prep 25, Shadow Mountain 10
Show Low 21, Blue Ridge 18
Snowflake 13, Eastmark 10
Thunderbird 50, Buckeye 7
Valley Christian 28, Payson 14
Vista Grande 52, Mesquite 7
Walden Grove 28, Catalina Foothills 21
Washington 52, Carl Hayden 19
8-Man Playoffs
Desert Christian 56, Williams 16
Lincoln Prep 40, Desert Heights Prep 35
Mohave Accelerated 36, Salome 22
Thursday Scores
Brophy Prep 45, Corona Del Sol 14
Gila Ridge 35, La Joya Community 14
Globe 41, Alchesay 14
Horizoan 27, Higley 24
Monument Valley 52, Window Rock 0
Sierra Linda 22, Independence 21
