Photo: Adam Lloyd scored the first two touchdowns and rushed for 154 yards
The Prescott Badgers are Grand Canyon Region champs for the first time since 2012 after their 35-28 win over the Coconino Panthers, on a cold, laundry filled, senior night at Prescott High School.
Photo: Uriah Tenette scores his first rushing touchdown
Quarterback Uriah Tenette scored what turned out to be the winning touchdown on a 37 yard run with just under two minutes to play. Tenette appeared to be running out bounds, but stayed in bounds and blew past the final two defenders for the touchdown. Tenette rushed for 167 yards with two touchdowns and threw for another TD, said, “My intention was to do just that, get the first and go out, but at that moment I saw some space and just went for it.” The senior signal caller knew that the stakes were pretty high tonight. “We really wanted this game. It was senior night and knowing we could become region champs is a big deal after a disappointing 4-6 last year. Coconino is always a tough opponent and you have to play hard against them.”
Adam Lloyd had a big game with 154 yards on 32 carries and scored the first two touchdowns on runs of four and three yards to give Prescott a 14-0 lead after one quarter.
The Badger defense, led by Brody Hanna and Cooper Kasun with nine tackles each followed by Issac Briseno and Adam Lloyd with eight apiece kept the Panthers offense in check for the first quarter, and came up with some big stops in the second half.
Coconino rebounded with a three yard run by Fernando Ramirez. Jose Miguel Villanueva added the kick to pull within 14-7.
Photo: Josiah Peoples goes up for the pass as he is interfered along with a hand on his face mask. There were no flags on the play, but he would catch the next pass for a touchdown.
Prescott pushed the lead back to 14 when Tenette hit Josiah Peoples on a 47 yard pass play for a 21-7 lead. It was the second straight pass to Peoples, who was interfered with on the previous play without a flag thrown. Peoples caught two of the three completions by Tenette on the night for 82 yards. Eli Allen had the other reception for eight yards. Peoples said, “My family came from California so I had to show them something, so I thought catching a touchdown pass would be good. The ball was right where it need to be and I took it from there. It was a great night for our seniors and our team.”
A 20 yard pass to Asher Young from Coconino quarterback Colton Buckingham in the far corner of the end zone pulled the Panthers to within 21-14. The Prescott offense did a great job of picking up yards while using clock to leave very little time on the clock. Tenette flew around four defenders on a 13 yard run on home side, stretching out to get past the defender for a 28-14 lead at the half.
Noble Young-Blackgoat pulled Coconino to within 28-21 on an 11 yard run. After Prescott was forced to punt, Isaac Briseno stepped in front of the receiver to pick off the Buckingham pass. Briseno had plenty of open field ahead, but got tripped up on a shoe string tackle said, “I was covering the tight end on the wing side and saw him come up the field I got on his hip and got the pick. I thought I was going to score but got tripped up.” In regards to the win and region champs, Briseno said, “It sounds great. One of our goals was to win the region, but we still have plenty to do in front of us.”
The Badgers could have gone up two scores and elected to go for a chip shot field goal of 18 yards rather than try a fourth down play. The Panthers messed that up by blocking the kick and getting the ball back down by just seven.
The Prescott defense rose to the occasion and forced a three and out. After an initial first down, a third down play provided the extra punch the Badgers needed at that time. Tenette rolled out to the far side and despite looking as if he would go out of bounds after obtaining the first down, took off for the end zone and a 35-21 lead.
Coconino caught a break after Tenette picked off a Buckingham pass. Offsetting penalties resulted in a replay of the down. The Panthers pulled back within seven on a one yard run by Buckingham with 48 ticks left. The onside kick was recovered by Kenny Miller-Terry. Tenette took two snaps and a knee to kill off the final seconds as the Badgers celebrated their win.
Prescott, ranked #7 this week has a chance to move up a spot or two since #4 Arcadia and #6 Northwest Christian both lost. The Badgers will travel to Cottonwood on Friday to face Mingus at 7 pm in the regular season finale. Coconino will host Flagstaff.
PRESCOTT BADGERS 35, COCONINO PANTHERS 28
Score by Quarters- 1 2 3 4 – T
Coconino 0 14 7 7 – 28
Prescott 14 14 0 7 – 35
Scoring Summary
P-Lloyd 4 yard run (Gundermann kick)
P-Lloyd 3 yard run (Gundermann kick)
C-Ramirez 3 yard run (Villanueva kick)
P-Peoples 47 yard pass from Tenette (Gundermann kick)
C-Young 20 yard pass from Buckingham (Villanueva kick)
P-Tenette 13 yard run (Gundermann kick)
C-Young-Blackgoat 11 yard run (Villanueva kick)
P-Tenette 37 yard run (Gundermann kick)
C-Buckingham 1 yard run (Villanueva kick)
GRAND CANYON REGION STANDINGS
School- W-L W-L
Prescott 4-0 8-1
Bradshaw Mountain 3-1 6-3
Flagstaff 2-2 6-3
Coconino 2-2 5-4
Lee Williams 1-3 2-7
Mingus 0-4 1-8
Region Scores
Prescott 35, Coconino 28
Bradshaw Mountain 43, Flagstaff 28
Lee Williams 42, Mingus 6
Schedule
Prescott at Mingus, Friday, 7pm
Lee Williams at Bradshaw Mountain, Friday, 7pm
Flagstaff at Coconino, Friday, 7pm
End of Regular Season
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS SCOREBOARD
River Valley 41, Chino Valley 8
Alhambra 18, Washington 13
Apollo 41, Agua Fria 26
AZ College Prep 64, Mesquite 22
Basha 38, Casteel 7
Brophy Prep 31, Mountain Pointe 24
Camelback 55, Betty Fairfax 20
Canyon Del Oro 25, Sahuaro 8
Catalina Foothills 23, Pueblo 0
Central 21, North 20
Cienega 20, Casa Grande 16
Combs 48, Desert Sunrise 12
Douglas 45, Rincon/University 0
Eastmark 39, Marcos de Niza 3
Empire 34, Rio Rico 20
Horizon 40, Cactus Shadows 21
Independence 47, La Joya Community 0
Lee Williams 42, Mingus 6
Liberty 63, Chaparral 15
Mica Mountain 16, Walden Grove 6
Mohave 41, Sabino 7
Monument Valley 28, Winslow 12
Mountain Ridge 42, Barry Goldwater 21
Mountain View Mesa 50, Cesar Chavez 0
Notre Dame Prep 51, ALA-Gilbert North 48
Page 66, Chinle 24
Payson 24, Show Low 21
Peoria 32, Moon Valley 21
Perry 24, Chandler 17
Pinnacle 41, Centennial 38
Poston Butte 40, Gila Ridge 21
Round Valley 35, Blue Ridge 0
Sahuarita 49, Amphitheater 12
Seton Catholic Prep 27, Sierra Linda 14
Snowflake 42, Apache Junction 0
Sunnyslope 44, Dobson 3
Thunderbird 34, Northwest Christian 10
Verrado 42, Canyon View 7
Vista Grande 8, Arcadia 7
Wickenburg 28, Kingman 0
Youngker 35, Glendale 20
Yuma Catholic 51, Lake Havasu 25
8-MAN PLAYOFFS-QUARTERFINALS
Bagdad 62, Lincoln Prep 12
Hayden 77, Desert Christian 6
Mogollon 46, El Capitan 0
St. David 59, Mohave Accelerated 12
Thursday Scores
Bradshaw Mountain 43, Flagstaff 28
Deer Valley 51, Maryvale 8
Estrella Foothills 36, Copper Canyon 14
Ganado 38, Window Rock 0
Greenway 41, Carl Hayden 21
Miami 48, ALA-Anthem South 0
St. Mary’s 21, Buckeye 7
Valley (Sanders) 24, Greyhills Academy 6
