Photo: 25 Kylin Jackson gets brought down by 24 Noble Ortega
Kylin Jackson rushed 244 yards and two touchdowns and threw another in the Bradshaw Mountain Bears 35-17 win over the Prescott Badgers at Bill Shepard Field. It was the 10th win in the series for the Bears between the two schools with Prescott having 23 wins. Along with the win Bradshaw Mountain will also take the Esse Quam Videri 19 Cup trophy back to their campus in Prescott Valley.
Jackson, who finished the regular season with 1620 yards was named player of the game and presented with the Player of the Game belt from KAZT-TV, who televised the game, for his big night on the field, “It feels great. I could not have done it without my lineman or my team. Now it’s onto the playoffs.”
Photo: Bears quarterback Michael Sanderford throws a pass as 75 Dante Dekort and 79 Blake Mcglory apply pressure with offensive lineman 77 Julian Estrada
The Badgers took the opening kickoff and rolled the dice early but it was a bust when the Bears defense stopped Prescott at around their own 30. Three plays later Landon Taggart caught a pass from quarterback Michael Sanderford to take a 6-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. Titus Womble added the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
Photo: 56 Gunnar Parra gets after 25 Kylin Jackson
Prescott responded with a touchdown drive to tie the score when quarterback Gio Pugliese connected with his favorite target Kenny Miller-Terry on a 58 yard play. Brady Costes kicked the equalizer with three and a half left in quarter number one.
Photo: 84 Eli Allen with the catch and gets forced out by 47 Sebastian Witkowski and 2 Casey Baumann
Kyler Ross-Centers caught Sanderford’s second touchdown pass to put the Bears on top 14-7 as the first quarter came to an end. Sanderford managed the game very well, finishing 10-17-0 130 yards and the two touchdowns.
The Badgers threatened again but settled for a Brady Costes field goal to cut the deficit to 14-10.
The Badger defense overall did a good job of containing Jackson, but one play they failed to wrap the senior rushing leader up when he went 76 yards to put Bradshaw Mountain on top 21-10.
Photo: 42 Caleb Fox on his way to a 30 yard TD run
Caleb Fox had his best game of the season and ran through the middle for a 30 yard touchdown to get the Badgers back within four at 21-17 with just under three minutes left in the half.
Prescott dodged a bullet in the final seconds of the quarter when the Bears fumbled the ball at the Badgers one yard line. Noble Ortega came up with the ball to keep the deficit at four as the teams headed to the locker room.
Bradshaw Mountain made it a two score game on a second Jackson rushing touchdown that made the score 28-17.
On their next possession, the Badgers looked like they were going to go for it on 4th and 4 at the Bears 8, but then called a timeout. When play resumed Prescott elected to kick a field goal. A tough angle from the far hash mark had plenty of distance but missed wide left.
Bradshaw Mountain got busy on using the clock, winding the play clock down to single digits before the snap as they moved the ball down the field.
A little pre-Halloween trickery was featured for the final touchdown of the game when a reverse pass from Kylin Jackson went to Caden Dabney just inside the goal line for six.
As Bradshaw Mountain celebrated the win and the hardware that came with it, the Badgers made their final trek off the field this season.
Gunnar Parra said, “We left it all out there tonight. It is definitely bittersweet to try and put all the years and games into focus. It was a lot of fun to play here and even though we did not have the season that we had hoped for it was still a great experience. I am looking forward to playing football next year in college.”
Photo: Quarterback Gio Pugliese gets pressured by 47 Sebastian Witkowski
Quarterback Gio Pugliese was 10-22-0 184 yards and a touchdown put his senior year as a Badger as one of thankfulness, “I just love Prescott and love being here. It was a great experience and I was hoping we could do better, but now the focus is the next chapter and hopefully playing football in college.”
Junior, Rutger Funk rushed the ball for 44 yards on just 4 carries said, “The emotions were up and down, but we kept going and knew we had a shot and unfortunately they got up on us by more than one score and we just could not get back in it.”
Jacob Chamberlain had to sit this one out with an injury. “This is the game you want to win no matter how your season has gone. I would love to be out there playing but it was not meant to be.”
Prescott ended their season at (4-6), dropping four of their last five games. Meanwhile, Bradshaw Mountain will wait a week to see if they will face Mesquite or get a rematch with Coconino in the second round of the state playoffs. No matter who wins, the game will be in Prescott Valley on November 14 at 7pm..
BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN BEARS 35, PRESCOTT BADGERS 17
Score by Quarters- 1 2 3 4 – T
Bradshaw Mountain 14 7 7 7 – 35
Prescott 7 10 0 0 – 17
Scoring Summary
BM-Taggart 13 yard pass from Sanderford (Womble kick)
P-Miller-Terry 58 yard pass from Pugliese (Costes kick)
BM-Ross-Centers 13 yard pass from Sanderford (Womble kick)
P-Costes 26 yard Field Goal
BM-Jackson 76 yard run (Womble kick)
P-Fox 30 yard run (Costes kick)
BM-Jackson 11 yard run (Womble kick)
BM-Dabney 9 yard pass from Jackson (Womble kick)
GRAND CANYON REGION
School- W-L W-L
Bradshaw Mountain 6-0 8-2
Coconino 5-1 6-4
Mohave 4-2 7-2
Lee Williams 2-3 5-4
Prescott 2-4 4-6
Flagstaff 1-5 2-8
Mingus 0-5 0-9
Thursday Scores
Bradshaw Mountain 35, Prescott 17
Brophy Prep 41, Saguaro 8
Centennial 49, Boulder Creek 17
Coconino 47, Flagstaff 21
Deer Valley 28, Youngker 21
Douglas 31, Catalina Foothills 28
Greenway 49, Independence 12
Marcos de Niza, Tempe
Northwest Christian 42, Paradise Honors 21
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS SCOREBOARD
Arcadia 32, Snowflake 22
Combs 21, Eastmark 19
Crismon 34, Seton Catholic 13
Estrella Foothills 32, Buckeye 26
Lee Williams 42, Mingus 6
Marana 47, Vista Grande 0
Mesquite 31, Poston Butte 7
Mica Mountain 21, Sahuaro 0
Mohave 62, La Joya Community 0
Payson 35, Show Low 25
Peoria 58, Thunderbird 26
1A DIVISION PLAYOFFS-QUARTERFINAL ROUND
Bagdad 60, Valley Union 0
Hayden 61, Mohave Accelerated 12
Mogollon 72, Superior Jr/Sr 30
Williams 58, St. David 40
SEMI-FINALS at Coronado HS
#1 Hayden (10-0) vs. #4 Mogollon (8-2), Friday at 7pm
#2 Bagdad (9-0) vs #6 Williams (7-4), Saturday at 7pm
4A DIVISION PLAYOFFS-First Round-November 7 at 7pm
#17 Deer Valley (6-4) at #16 St. Mary’s (6-4)
#24 Paradise Honors (5-5) at #9 Peoria (7-3)
#21 Youngker (7-3) at #12 ALA-West Foothills (6-4)
#20 Northwest Christian (6-4) at #13 Walden Grove (7-3)
#19 Mesquite (5-5) at #14 Coconino (6-4)
#22 Estrella Foothills (7-3) at #11 Sahuaro (7-3)
#23 Sierra Linda (8-2) at #10 Lake Havasu (8-2)
#18 Desert Sunrise (8-2) at #15 Eastmark (5-5)
Final Top 8 Rankings receiving a first round bye. These teams will host second round games on November 14.
# School W-L
1 Arcadia 10-0
2 Snowflake 9-1
3 Bradshaw Mountain 8-2
4 Mohave 8-2
5 Combs 8-2
6 Gila Ridge 9-1
7 Mica Mountain 8-2
8 Marcos de Niza 9-1
