Bears Thrive Indoors as Badgers Win Without Playing

Photo: 12 Caden Dabney set a new school record in consecutive extra points made for the Bears

The Bradshaw Mountain Bears kept right on rolling with a 51-0 win over the Flagstaff Eagles inside the dome at NAU. 

Like the previous two games it became apparent early that the Bears would be in good shape.

It did turn out to be a special night for senior kicker Caden Dabney who set the new Bradshaw Mountain record for consecutive extra points first tying the record of 28 set back in 1991-92, that is 29 now and counting.

Flagstaff took the opening kickoff and went three and out losing yardage on their first play followed by a pair of incomplete passes.

The Bears needed just four plays to jump on top when Jon’te Jones broke through for a 23 yard TD run. A two point attempt failed and it was 6-0.

The Eagles had a second three and out setting up another short field for Bradshaw Mountain. The Bears needed just three plays after starting at the Eagles 33 yard line to go on top 13-0 when quarterback Taye Evans connected with Kyle Rudolph on a 29 yard touchdown pass play.

In the second quarter, the Bears went hog wild scoring five times in less than ten minutes.

Evans hit Andrew Van Dell on a screen pass as he went 32 yards for the score. 

Dabney, who 99% of the time kicks the ball into the end zone, kicked the ball way short, rolling down field and recovered by the Bears at the Flagstaff 22 after the Eagles failed to cover it. Two plays later Jones ran in the final 10 yards for a 27-0 lead that took only :45 seconds off the clock. 

An interception by Sebastian Witkowski was lost due to a penalty on the Bears. Flagstaff was able to run another play but Zander Mendibles sacked the Eagles QB Valdez and forced another punt.

Van Dell returned the punt to the Flag 43. The Eagles defense held tough forcing a 32 yard field goal by Caden Dabney and the Bears led 30-0 with 5:45 left in the second quarter. Dabney then added a field goal for a 30-0 lead.

Meanwhile the Flagstaff offense, desperately trying just to get into Bradshaw Mountain territory, went for it on fourth and one at their own 39, but the Bears D said not so fast, stopping the Eagles for the sixth straight time and taking the ball over with another short field.

The only miscue came when Jones coughed up the ball at the Eagles 15 after picking up 12 yards.

The Eagles were able to move the ball with some help from penalty yardage to almost midfield before turning the ball over on downs.

Bradshaw Mountain took over and moved the ball down to the 5 but fumbled the ball back to the 16 and Jones got some good blocks and ran the ball in from the weak side for a 37-0 with 2:53 on the clock.

After the fifth Flagstaff punt of the first half, the Bears moved the ball down the Flagstaff 17 yard line with sixteen seconds left on a 20 yard pass from Evans to Dabney. Connor Ross-centers caught the touchdown pass from Evans with five seconds on the clock as Dabney kicked his 28th straight extra point tying with Josh Branch in the 1991-92 season. The Bears led 44-0 at the half.

The Bears took the second half kickoff and went 66 yards on 8 plays with the bulk of the yardage coming on a 55 yard reception by Jax Portrey from a pass by Evans to the Flagstaff one yard line.

Levi Baker stayed focused after tipping the ball up and caught the 1 yard pass from Evans for his fourth TD toss of the night. Dabney kicked the extra point and set the new consecutive PAT record at Bradshaw Mountain with 29 straight as the Bears now led 51-0 with 7:29 left in the third quarter. 

Valdez kept slinging passes into the fourth. Flagstaff moved into Bear territory for the first time getting as far as the Bradshaw Mountain 45 yard line. Four incomplete passes turned the ball over on downs back to the Bears.

The quarter went quickly with Brody Bryant picking off the Flagstaff pass for the third turnover of the game. Neither team threatened to score as the clock ran out.

Statistically, it was a big night for Dabney with his 6-6 extra points and a field goal. Taye Evans threw 4 touchdown passes on 14 completions in 21 attempts for 234 yards. Jon’te Jones led the Bears in rushing with 81 yards on 11 carries and 3 touchdowns giving the senior 14 on the season.

Credit the Bears defense too as they completely dominated Flagstaff, holding the Eagles to just 11 yards of total offense.

Bradshaw Mountain improved to (3-0) in the Grand Canyon region and (5-1) overall. Flagstaff remains winless at (0-3) and (0-6). The Bears have outscored their last three opponents 182-6 but it is highly unlikely that a blowout will take place this week as the Bears will host a good Lee Williams team on Thursday at 7pm.

BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN BEARS 51, FLAGSTAFF EAGLES 0

Score by Quarters-     1        2        3        4     –     T

Bradshaw Mountain   13      31       7        0     –    51

Flagstaff                      0        0        0        0     –     0

Scoring Summary

BM-Jones 23 yard run (Pass failed)

BM-Rudolph 29 yard pass from Evans (Dabney run)

BM-Van Dell 32 yard pass from Evans (Dabney kick)

BM-Jones 10 yard run (Dabney kick)

BM-Dabney 32 yard Field Goal

BM-Jones 16 yard run (Dabney kick)

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

BM-Baker 1 yard pass from Evans (Dabney kick)

Mohave at Prescott

The Prescott Badgers took Friday night off after the Mohave Thunderbirds forfeited the game due to a lack of healthy players to suit up. The Thunderbirds took a lot of big hits in their 68-6 loss at Bradshaw Mountain last week and made the decision not to try and play till some of their players can heal up. 

Mohave lost a lot of players from a very good team last season and does not have a frosh/soph or junior varsity team this year, so everybody that is playing is on the varsity squad.

Prescott is now (3-0) in the Grand Canyon Region and (6-0) overall. Next up on the schedule is the Coconino Panthers which always seem to play the Badgers tough. The game will be in Prescott on Friday at 7pm.

GRAND CANYON REGION STANDINGS

School- 4A Rank (*)       W-L       W-L

Prescott (4)                     3-0        6-0

Bradshaw Mountain (3)  3-0        5-1

Coconino (12)                2-0        3-3

Lee Williams (13)           1-1        5-1 

Flagstaff                         0-2        0-6

Mingus                           0-3        0-5

Mohave                          0-3        0-6

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS SCOREBOARD

Prescott 1, Mohave 0, FORFEIT

Bradshaw Mountain 51, Flagstaff 0

Arcadia 42, Combs 7

Bourgade Catholic 48, Chino Valley 19

Buckeye 33, Lake Havasu 26

Camp Verde 70, Holbrook 6

Chaparral 49, Deer Valley 0

Coconino 35, Mingus 20

Eastmark 42, Mesquite 0 

Glendale 35, Independence 32

La Joya Community 40, Desert Sunrise 8

Lee Williams 47, Westview 0

Marcos de Niza 50, Moon Valley 14

Maryvale 49, North Canyon 13

Mayer 30, Fort Thomas 22

Mica Mountain 58, Douglas 6

Mogollon 54, Sedona Red Rock 24

Northwest Christian 21, Thunderbird 20

Payson 31, Blue Ridge 22

Peoria 46, St. Mary’s 43

Salome 54, Bagdad 8

Snowflake 42, Poston Butte 7

Williams 46, Joseph City 14

Youngker 23, Estrella Foothills 9