Photo: Uriah Tenette goes up for the catch and score against two Thunderbird defenders
Thunderbird at Prescott
The Thunderbird Titans racked up 544 yards of total offense in beating the Prescott Badgers 50-30 at Bill Shepard Field. Despite the threat of rain throughout the evening, fans stayed dry as temperatures hovered around 70 degrees.
The Titans struck first, and second to take a two touchdown lead. Tyler Woods went through the line on a four yard run barely two minutes into the game. Prescott’s first possession ended when quarterback Jaxon Rice threw the first of his two interceptions. Elijah Woods scored when he picked up a pair of great blocks to spring him into the end zone for a 14-0 midway through the first quarter.
Photo: 74 Macrae Kasun and 70 Adam Roberts bring down 3 Joe Francis
The Badgers came back with a strong drive that resulted in their first points when Uriah Tenette went up high over two defenders to pull in the pass from quarterback Jaxon Rice. Tenette then fought off the two would-be tacklers to get into the end zone. The two point attempt failed, leaving the score at 14-6.
Photo: 21 Adam Lloyd and 53 Frankie Jaume close in on Joe Francis
The Prescott defense came up with a stop and Tenette electrified the crowd with a 70 yard punt return. Johann Gundermann ran in the two point conversion to tie the game at 14 with two minutes left in the first quarter.
Thunderbird went to the “Mini Fridge” to take the lead when fullback Greg Smith steamrolled his way in from four yard out. Smith repeated the process on the two point conversion for a 22-14 lead midway through the second quarter. (Chicago Bears fans from the 80’s should appreciate the reference.)
The Badgers were unable to generate a drive in the quarter, and Thunderbird added another score on a seven yard run by Little for a 29-14 halftime advantage.
Photo: Badger quarterback Jaxon Rice gets flushed out of the pocket by Christopher Rock
The Titans received the ball to start the second half, but Cort Lewis came up with a fumble recovery to give Prescott good field position. The Badgers offense stalled yet again, and Thunderbird extended their lead when their big tight end Will Clark caught a short pass from Andrew Cohill and literally plowed his way through numerous Prescott defenders, going 74 yards for the score.
Trailing 36-14, the Badgers put together a strong drive ending with a 14 yard pass from Rice to Tenette. Rice ran in the conversion to cut the deficit to 36-22 with 5:37 left in the third quarter.
Once again the Badgers had no answer for the Thunderbird offense. Cohill went back to Clark who pretty much did the same thing battling his way down the field for 40 yards, and another score increasing the Thunderbird lead to 43-22.
Lewis scored from a yard out in the first play of the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 50-22. Prescott facing their largest deficit battled back on their next series.
Cort Lewis scored what would be the final touchdown of the game with just over nine minutes to play, on a one yard run. Tenette rushed in the two point conversion to make it 50-30.
The Prescott defense held the Titans offense again, but the Badger offense could not come up with any big plays as the clock ran out.
Thunderbird was led by quarterback Andrew Cohill 8-10-0 191 yards and 2 touchdowns. Elijah Little rushed for 149 yards on 25 carries and three touchdowns. Tyler Woods rushed for 108 yards on 9 carries and one TD. Will Clark 4 receptions 145 yards and 2 scores.
The Badgers were led by Jaxon Rice, 15-24-2, 144 yards and 2 touchdowns. Uriah Tenette ran for 34 yards on six carries, completed one pass for 20 yards, and pulled in five passes for 60 yards and 2 touchdowns. Johann Gundermann also caught five passes for 36 yards, and had a couple of good kickoff returns and kickoffs for touchbacks.
Prescott (1-1) will host Northwest Christian (2-0), on Friday at 7 pm. Thunderbird will host Apollo.
THUNDERBIRD TITANS 50, PRESCOTT BADGERS 30
Score by Quarters- 1 2 3 4 – T
Thunderbird 14 15 14 7 – 50
Prescott 14 0 8 8 – 30
Scoring Summary
T-Woods 4 yard run (Scheurmann kick)
T-Little12 yard run (Scheurmann kick)
P-Tenette 30 pass from Rice (Run failed)
P-Tenette 70 yard punt return (Gundermann run)
T-Smith 4 yard run (Smith run)
T-Little 7 yard run (Scheurmann kick)
T-Clark 70 yard pass from Cohill (Scheurmann kick)
P-Tenette 14 yard pass from Rice (Rice run)
T-Clark 40 yard pass from Cohill (Scheurmann kick)
T-Smith 1 yard run (Scheurmann kick)
P-Lewis 1 yard run (Tenette run)
Canyon Del Oro at Bradshaw Mountain
The Bradshaw Mountain Bears ran into a buzz saw at home with 4A title contender Canyon Del Oro, and it was not pretty, as the visiting Dorado beat the Bears 42-7 in Prescott Valley.
The Dorado scored five first half touchdowns, three by Caden Luke and a pair by Vijay King. The Bears struggled even in their running game, thanks to a vicious CDO defense.
Canyon del Oro added a final score in the third quarter when quarterback Tristen McClelland threw for a touchdown. The Dorado finished with 400 yards of total offense, 274 pass, 126 rush. Bradshaw Mountain got 134 of their 137 yards on the ground.
A running clock in the final quarter gave the Bears their only score of the game on a four yard run by Kylin Jackson. Trevor Head added the PAT with under a minute to play to close things out.
Bradshaw Mountain (1-1) will hit the road for the first time this season with a 7 pm contest next Friday versus Moon Valley (0-1).
CANYON DEL ORO DORADO 42, BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN BEARS 7
Score by Quarters- 1 2 3 4 – T
Canyon Del Oro 21 14 7 0 – 42
Bradshaw Mountain 0 0 0 7 – 7
Scoring Summary
CDO-Luke 65 yard run (Douglas kick)
CDO-King 83 yard pass from (Douglas kick)
CDO-King 20 yard pass from (Douglas kick)
CDO-Luke 4 yard run (Douglas kick)
CDO-Luke 8 yard run (Douglas kick)
CDO-Pass from McClelland (Douglas kick)
BM-Jackson 4 yard run (Head kick)
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS SCOREBOARD
ALA-Gilbert North 48, Gilbert 14
Arcadia 34, Walden Grove 28
AZ College Prep 35, Apache Junction 21
Bagdad 29, St. David 7
Buckeye Union 51, Youngker 24
Cactus 20, Snowflake 17
Casa Grande 50, Nogales 0
Central 49, Ironwood 7
Chino Valley 23, Bourgade Catholic 7
Deer Valley 28, Saharita 8
Douglas 39, Bisbee 38
Empire 20, La Joya Community 14
Estrella Foothills 16, Mingus 0
Glendale 35, Rio Rico 0
Kingman 12, Kingman Academy 7
Lake Havasu 34, Carl Hayden 6
Lee Williams 34, Sierra Linda 7
Marcos de Niza 48, McClintock 47
Mica Mountain 34, Mesquite 12
Mohave 28, ALA-West Foothills 20
Northwest Christian 53, Sahuaro 22
Peoria 33, Raymond Kellis 26
Poston Butte 53, Copper Canyon 0
Ray 45, Joseph City 8
Salome 20, Williams 6
Show low 48, Willcox 19
Somerset Academy (Nevada) 47, Flagstaff 6
St. Mary’s 43, Seton Catholic Prep 21
Vista Grande 14, Pueblo 7
Washington 20, Cortez 16
Yuma Catholic 37, Catalina Foothills 20
Thursday Scores
Camp Verde 51, Fountain Hills 13
Eastmark 51, Combs 0
Payson 43, Page 6
