Bears First Half Makes Quick Work of Independence

Photos:33 Jon’te Jones on his way for his first of four touchdowns

The Bradshaw Mountain Bears completely dominated the first half on their way to cruising to a 44-7 victory in their season home opener.

Last year the Bears beat Independence 54-8 in Glendale, so the general consensus was that this game could be very similar to that one and it was.

Photo: 6 Caden Ricketts with the initial hit on the running back Leki Le-Uh as 31 Christian Kelley comes in to assist

It took only three plays and just 67 seconds for the Bears to take the lead as the home team lit up the scoreboard with all 44 points coming in under 20 minutes of game time. Jon’te Jones broke through three defenders on his way for a 23 yard run. Caden Dabney added the extra point and it was 7-0.

Photo: The large crowd enjoyed the Bears smothering defense against Independence

The Bradshaw Mountain defense was ruthless, not giving much of anything up. A quick three and out set the offense up again. The Bears scored again when Taye Evans threw a 22 yard pass to Andrew Van Dell to make it 14-0.

Independence had trouble on special teams and the snap went over the punter’s head and punter decided to kick it out of the back of the end zone for a safety to make it 16-0. 

After the free kick, Jones rambled 57 yards for his second TD to make it 23-0.

Another bad snap by the Patriots gave the Bears a short field. Jones capped it off on the first play in the second quarter with a one yard run to make it 30-0.

Bradshaw Mountain held Independence on another three and out and then boosted the lead to 37-0 on a 47 yard run by Jones for his fourth TD on the night.

Photos:17 Kyler Ross-centers fights for extra yards after the catch

The Bears closed out their scoring with 4:22 left in the first half when Evans threw his second TD pass of the night, this one to Kyler Ross-centers, who had two catches for 46 yards, and it was 44-0.

The only miscue by Bradshaw Mountain in the entire first half was a muffed punt by the Bears in the last minute of the second quarter.

The third and fourth quarters gave Bradshaw Mountain backups some game experience as a running clock made quick work of the second half.

There was no letdown after the big win last week at Arcadia. Bears coach Bob Young said, “We came out and got after it. Good offensive production in the first half but our defense is our strength. We just need to keep getting better each week.”

Jont’e Jones rushed for 204 yards on 12 carries and scored four touchdowns, all in the first half. “It was a good time out there tonight. The line did a great job. Everybody got some time in and that helps all of us out.”

Sophomore quarterback Taye Evans had a big first half as well completing five of six passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns.

Independence was able to break through early in the fourth quarter on an error by the Bears. A fumble was picked up by Jordan Bell who bolted 75 yards for the score. Bell said, “I just saw the ball come out and was able to pick it up and go.”

Bradshaw Mountain improves to (2-0) and will face a big challenge on the road when the Bears face Snowflake on Friday at 7pm. Independence falls to (0-2).

BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN BEARS 44, INDEPENDENCE PATRIOTS 7

Score by Quarters-     1        2        3        4    –    T

Independence             0        0        0        7    –    7

Bradshaw Mountain   23      21       0        0    –   44

Scoring Summary

BM-Jones 23 yard run (Dabney kick)

BM-Van Dell 22 yard pass from Evans (Dabney kick)

BM-Jones 57 yard run (Dabney kick)

BM-Safety

BM-Jones 1 yard run (Dabney kick)

BM-Jones 47 yard run (Dabney kick)

BM-Ross-centers 17 yard pass from Evans (Dabney kick)

I-Bell fumble recovery 75 yard return (Mendez kick)

The Prescott Badgers improved to (2-0) with a 36-19 win at Thunderbird. The Titans fell to (1-1) and will host Independence on Thursday. 

The Badgers win snapped a four game losing streak to Thunderbird, and was the first win since Prescott beat the then called Chiefs 63-34 in October 2008. The school switched from the Chiefs to the Titans in 2020.

Titans quarterback Daryl Little rushed for 228 yards and 2 touchdowns, but was only 4-13 for 57 yards throwing the ball.

Prescott will travel south to the valley again on Friday when they face Northwest Christian at 7pm.

PRESCOTT BADGERS 36, THUNDERBIRD TITANS 19

Score by Quarters-   1       2        3        4   –   T

Prescott                    6       7        7       16  –  36

Thunderbird              6       7        6         0  –  19

Scoring Summary

T-D. Little 65 yard run (Kick failed)

P-Villanueva 12 yard run (Kick failed)

P-Hanna 4 yard run (Costes kick)

T-Z. Little 3 yard run (Serrano kick)

T-D. Little 80 yard run (Kick failed)

P-Johnson 16 yard run (Costes kick)

P-Hanna 6 yard run (Costes kick)

P-Costes 27 yard Field Goal

P-Hanna 8 yard run (Kick failed)

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS SCOREBOARD

Bradshaw Mountain 44, Independence 7

Prescott 36, Thunderbird 19

Desert Star 38, Chino Valley 7

Arcadia 48, Camelback 12

Estrella Foothills 28, Mingus 0

Gila Ridge 50, Greenway 2

Lake Havasu 52, Mohave 0

Lee Williams 55, Kingman 0

Mica Mountain 30, Canyon Del Oro 0

Mogollon 66, Bagdad 6

Northwest Christian 21, Poston Butte 7

Paradise Honors 56, Flagstaff 14

Peoria 42, Kellis 7

Snowflake 33, ALA-West Foothills 14

St. Mary’s 21, Coconino 19

Williams 52, Superior Jr/Sr 6

Youngker 46, Agua Fria 0

Thursday Night Scores

Buckeye 62, Moon Valley 13