Badgers Turnover Volunteers, Bears Roll

Photo: 84 Eli Allen gets tripped up by 7 Demarcus Walema after the catch

The Prescott Badgers took advantage of seven Lee Williams turnovers on their way to a 41-14 drubbing to improve to (4-0) on the season.

Going into the contest both teams were (3-0) with Lee Williams sitting at #6 and the Badgers at #7 in the AIA Division 4A poll. Expecting a close game would soon not be the case.

The Volunteers struck early on the first play from scrimmage as running back Lucas Leist went around the near sideline for 53 yards, shocking the home crowd and an early 7-0 lead. The Badger defense did a great job after that as Leist had only 88 yards for the remainder of the game and finished with 141 yards on 27 carries.

Turnovers started on the very next series as the Badgers coughed up the ball on their first possession as quarterback Bryce Coston got spun around and lost control of the ball. Three players later, Lee Williams returned the favor when Cougan Smith used his quick reflexes to pick off the pass just beyond the line of scrimmage.

The game was tied 7-7 after one quarter as Brody Hanna scored the equalizer with just under 90 seconds to play in  the first quarter. 

Another Lee Williams fumble was recovered by Kingston Douthit putting the Badger offense back on a short field. After a couple of handoffs the Badgers went to the air.

Photo: 10 Colton Sunshine battles to get past the Lee Williams defender

Colton Sunshine caught the go ahead touchdown pass from James Hefferin by working his way through traffic on his way to the end zone. Sunshine said, “I got a good pass and just took it from there. We wanted to come out and get after it. Keep playing hard from start to finish and we did that.” Hefferin was a perfect 5 for 5 on the night. Coston was nearly as good going 5 for 6. Both threw for 49 yards.

Photo: 50 Menno Dow on his way to a touchdown accompanied by 88 James Crockett with 12 Wyatt Evans in pursuit

Lee Williams’ troubles continued as the QB and leading rusher Leist had trouble with the exchange, and with the ball handed off high Leist was unable to secure it, resulting in a fumble picked up by Menno Dow who returned it 28 yards for the score and a 21-7 lead.

Prescott went up 28-7 on a second touchdown run by Hanna with just under five minutes left in the half.

A third and fourth turnover on interceptions by Kingston Douthit and Easton Shy, with the latter setting up a last second field goal to give Prescott a commanding 31-7 lead at the half.

Photo: The Pride of Prescott with a portion of their halftime show

An onside kick by the Volunteers failed to start the second half and the Badgers used the short field to go on top 38-7 when Braylon Johnson went up the middle on a 10 yard run. Max Young recovered a fumble as well giving Prescott 4 on the night.

Photo: 11 Bryce Coston gets chased by 8 Jacob Ladendecker

Lee Williams scored on a quarterback bootleg by Wyatt Evans who went 10 yards for the score near the end of the third quarter. Wyatt finished with 59 yards on the ground but struggled through the air completing only 4 of 10 and had 3 interceptions. Brady Costes added a 30 yard field goal in the final minutes to close out the game as the Badgers remain undefeated.

As much as the turnovers helped with the Prescott win it was the offensive line that created some massive holes for the runners to get through. Starting with center Baylor Anderson, along with Eli Carr, Blake McGlory, Jeremy Morales, Josiah Dykstra and tight end Eli Allen. The line continues to be a game changer and is a force to be reckoned with as the season continues.

On Friday, Lee Williams (3-1) will host Flagstaff while the Badgers make the trip over to Cottonwood to play the winless Mingus Marauders. Game time is 7pm.

PRESCOTT BADGERS 41, LEE WILLIAMS VOLUNTEERS 14

Score by Quarters-     1        2        3        4    –    T

Lee Williams               7        0        7        0    –    14

Prescott                      7       24       7        3    –    41

Scoring Summary

LW-Leist 53 yard run (Casson kick)

P-Hanna 9 yard run (Costes kick)

P-Sunshine 10 yard pass from Hefferin (Costes kick)

P-Menno 28 yard fumble return (Costes kick)

P-Hanna 15 yard run (Costes kick)

P-Costes 20 yard Field Goal

P-Johnson 10 yard run (Costes kick)

LW-Evans 10 yard run (Casson kick)

P-Costes 30 yard Field Goal

Bradshaw Mountain at Mingus 

Coach Bob Young returned to his old stomping grounds and his current team left their paw prints everywhere as the Bradshaw Mountain Bears blew out the Mingus Marauders 63-0.

This game was over by halftime as the Bears built a 42-0 lead at the half with three touchdown runs by Jon’te Jones. Taye Evans threw a pair of touchdown passes to Andrew Van Dell. Brody Bryant closed out the first half scoring when he returned a pass interception 40 yards for a pick-six.

Evans threw three more touchdown passes in the second half to Caden Dabney, Levi Baker, and Treyton Rudolph, giving the sophomore QB a career 5 for the game. Evans was 12-21 for 238 yards. Jon’te Jones also had a big game rushing for 205 yards on just 10 carries and had 3 touchdowns giving the senior 8 on the season. Caden Dabney led the receivers with 4 catches for 73 yards. 

The Bears (3-1) will host winless Mohave on Thursday at 7pm. Mingus will host Prescott on Friday at 7pm.

BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN BEARS 63, MINGUS MARAUDERS 0

Score by Quarters-     1        2        3        4    –    T

Bradshaw Mountain   21      21      14       7    –   63

Mingus                        0        0        0        0    –    0

Scoring Summary

BM-Jones 76 yard run (Dabney kick)

BM-Van Dell 23 yard pass from Evans (Dabney kick)

BM-Jones 60 yard run (Dabney kick)

BM-Van Dell 17 yard pass from Evans (Dabney kick)

BM-Jones 1 yard run (Dabney kick)

BM-Bryant 40 yard pass interception return (Dabney kick)

BM-Dabney 35 yard pass from Evans (Dabney kick)

BM-Baker 5 yard pass from Evans (Dabney kick)

BM-Rudolph pass from Evans (Dabney kick)

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS SCOREBOARD

Prescott 41, Lee Williams 14

Bradshaw Mountain 63, Mingus 0

Kingman at Chino Valley, Cancelled

ALA-West Foothills 63, Independence 7

Cactus 56, Peoria 0

Camp Verde 48, Bourgade Catholic 19

Coconino 41, Mohave 0

Desert Heights Prep 50, Bagdad 34

Lake Havasu 52, Alhambra 6

Marcos de Niza 18, Poston Butte 6

Mica Mountain 56, Sunnyside 17

Mogollon 70, Mayer 8

Northwest Christian 40, Gila Ridge 21

Paradise Honors 42, Combs 22

Paradise Valley 27, Flagstaff 22

Snowflake 55, Catalina Foothills 7