Roundup: Cheyenne rallies, wins on game’s final play

Joshua Rose hit Rayvion Brown with a 37-yard touchdown pass on the game’s final to secure the win.

“We just refused to quit,” said Brown, who caught a 49-yard scoring pass on the previous possession. “We didn’t argue or get down on ourselves. We just remained focused at the job at hand.”

The Desert Shields started the game-winning drive after Joshua Washington intercepted an Andre Nevarez pass and returned it 28 yards to the Del Sol 37 with 22 seconds left.

After two incompletions, Rose threw deep to the right corner of the end zone, and Brown went up between two defenders for the winning catch,

“I wanted to be aggressive,” said Brown, who caught three passes for 99 yards. “I told the coaches I wanted the ball, so they gave me a chance. Once the ball was in the air, I knew I was going to make the catch.”

Rose completed just five passes in the game, but four went for touchdowns, with the other two going to Mike Reed on scoring plays of 53 and 11 yards.

Del Sol (5-5, 2-3 3A Sunset) grabbed a 30-14 lead after Hector Sosa’s 24-yard field goal that ended a five-minute Dragon drive with 8:11 remaining.

On the next possession, Cheyenne (8-2, 4-1) started the comeback. Rose hit Reed for the 11-yard score, then hit Charlston Tooks for the two-point conversion to cut the margin to 30-22.

Following a three-yard Dragon punt, the Desert Shields took over their next possession at the Del Sol 49. Two plays later, Rose hit Brown on the 49-yard score, then found Brown again for another two-point conversion, tying the game.

With 1:12 remaining, Del Sol had its final possesion and a chance to win, but Nevarez’s interception set up the final Cheyenne drive.

Majae Madison led Cheyenne with 135 yards on 21 carries as the Desert Shields finished with 401 yards of offense. Rose threw for 176 yards for the Desert Shields.

Del Sol’s Markell Turner led all rushers with 152 yards on 32 carries. Nevarez completed 13 of 25 passes for 220 yards for Del Sol, which gained 415 total yards.

Canyon Springs 23, Eldorado 7 — At Canyon Springs, Jayvion Pugh rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown to lead the Pioneers over the Sundevils.

Even though the Canyon Springs offense controlled the game with their rushing attack, it took two fourth-quarter touchdown passes by quarterback Xavier DeLong to break open a close contest and seal the victory.

Pugh gave Canyon Springs (5-3, 4-0 Northeast League) an early 7-0 lead with a 27-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter. Eldorado countered with three consecutive pass completions which set up a 9-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jalen Malone to tie the score.

The score remained tied until Pioneers kicker Alonso Casillas kicked a 25 yard field goal to make the score 10-7 midway through the third quarter

DeLong was able to connect with Shakureon Dukes on a 18-yard touchdown pass to expand the score to 17-7. After the Pioneers stopped Eldorado by inches on a fourth-down play deep in its own territory, DeLong immediately threw a touchdown pass to Blake to close out the scoring.

Malone led the Sundevils (1-7, 0-4) with 60 rushing yards.

Legacy 40, Mojave 0 — At Mojave, The Longhorns (4-5, 3-1) held the Rattlers to 50 yards total offense, and five players scored in an easy win.

“The execution is what we needed,” Isola said. “We told the kids, ‘You want to play for a championship, you’ve gotta win this game, you’ve got to execute like that. Canyon Springs is going to be tough team, but we’re going to have to play like that, execute like we did in the first half. Guys were hitting on all cylinders.”

If Legacy defeats Canyon Springs next, week, they would tie the Pioneers, and potentially Desert Pines, for the Northeast League crown.

That first-half dominance got started early, in all three phases, as the Longhorns held the Rattlers (3-6, 1-3) to a three-and-out, forced a punt, returned it to the 8, then Amorey Foster took it in for a score on the first play from scrimmage.

On the ensuing drive Jerry Martin began taking control of the game, providing nearly all of the 71 yards on the drive, before fullback Isaiah Sedillos took scored from 1-yard out. Martin finished the next two drives however, ending the first quarter with a 5-yard score and beginning the second period scoring with a 19-yard scoring scamper.

Legacy got tricky for its last score of the half, with quarterback Evan Olaes throwing backwards to Elijah Alvarez, who then threw to his fellow receiver, Aaron Holloway, for a 53-yard touchdown pass.

Olaes wrapped up the scoring with a 4-yard run int he third quarter before the Longhorns played backups for the remainder of the game.

Silverado 35, Clark 6 — At Clark, the Skyhawks held the Chargers to just 95 yards of offense and forced four turnovers in earning a decisive win.

Jacob Mendez and Gregory Hunt each scored two touchdowns for Silverado (4-4, 2-3 Southwest League), which found the end zone three times over a four-minute span in the first quarter to take control.

Tyler Green started the scoring for Silverado with a 27-yard scoring pass from Kana Hoapili, who finished 10 of 12 for 160 yards. After Green intercepted a pass, Hunt broke free from a scrum to score from 37 yards out to double the Skyhawks lead. Bravyn Aquino picked off the Chargers’ next pass, leading to Mendez plunging into the end zone from 2 yards out with 38 seconds left in the quarter.

Mendez ran for 86 yards for Silverado, which allowed 21 yards and one first down in the first half.

Steven Shoats was impressive on both sides of the ball for Clark (0-8, 0-4 Southwest League). The senior led the Chargers in both rushing yards with 25 and receiving yards with 43, scored Clark’s lone touchdown, and recorded an interception.

Democracy Prep 35, Western 6 — At Western, Keionte Scott caught three passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns to propel the Blue Knights over the Warriors.

The Blue Knights led 28-0 at half, but their offense stagnated in the second half.

Democracy Prep (3-7, 2-3 Sunset League) running back Ramon Green had an 80-yard touchdown run with 4:33 to go in the third quarter to extend the lead to 35-0.

The Blue Knights had a fairly balanced attack on offense, finishing with 185 yards on the ground and 139 through the air.

Democracy Prep quarterback Amar Smith was 7-for-12 with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Jeremiah Towns caught an 80-yard touchdown pass from Hashaun Blackburn with 2:53 to play for the lone Western (0-9, 0-5) highlight.

Moapa Valley 35, Virgin Valley 0 — At Mesquite, Hayden Redd scored a pair of rushing touchdowns as the Pirates beat the Bulldogs in the battle for the “Victory Hammer.”

Redd rushed for 132 yards on 10 carries. He had TD runs of 6 and 55 yards.

Luke Bennett completed 10 of 16 passes for 155 yards and two TDs. He had a 26-yard scoring pass to Josh Cox and a 25-yard TD pass to Derek Reese.

Cox also returned a punt for a score for the Pirates (9-1, 4-0 Sunrise League).

Wyatt Delano rushed for 34 yards for Virgin Valley (7-3, 1-3).

Chaparral 43, Rancho 6 — At Chaparral, Meschach Hawkins scored four touchdowns — two running, two receiving — as the Cowboys rolled past the Rams.

The Cowboys (4-3) got off to a fast start, scoring 36 points in the opening quarter before cruising the rest of the way.

Hawkins and junior quarterback Iopu Tauili’ili got Chaparral going early when the duo connected on a pair of TD passes on screens of 24 and 8 yards.

Jesus Casamayor took a short pass from Tauili’ili and raced 37 yards down the right sideline midway through the first quarter for another score, and the Cowboys were up 21-0.

Tauili’ili added a 1-yard quarterback sneak for a score in addition to going 8-for-9 passing for 126 yards and three scores. Hawkins also scored from on runs of 8- and 5-yards in the first half.

“We had a good week of practice and it showed on the field,” Cowboys coach Don Willis said. “I told them to jump on them right away and they did just that.”

The Cowboy defense also limited Rancho to 50 yards of total offense. The Rams’ lone score came when Jose Rubio scooped up a Chaparral fumble and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown in the final seconds of the first half.

Rancho finished its season at 1-9.

Spring Mountain 36, Pahranagat Valley 34 — At Spring Mountain, Da’Juan Brown threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Chris Mosley with on second left to give the Golden Eagles the win over the Panthers.

It was the first league loss for the Panthers since at least 2006.

Brown completed 26 of 41 passes for 308 yards and four touchdowns for the Golden Eagles (6-1, 4-0 1A Southern League).

Mosley had six catches for 33 yards and two scores.

Ishad Livingston had 14 tackles, and Kadreion Payne had 13 tackles and a sack for Spring Mountain.

Preston Higbee had three rushing TDs for Pahranagat Valley (5-1, 3-1), which had won 17 consecutive games. The Panthers hadn’t lost since the Class 1A state title game on Nov. 19, 2016 when Spring Mountain beat them 68-46 to end their 104-game win streak.

Lake Mead 46, Mountain View 12 — At Lake Mead, Joe Johnson rushed for four touchdowns as the Eagles rolled past the Saints.

Johnson took over at quarterback early in the first half and led a punishing ground game. He led the Eagles with 125 rushing yards and scoring four touchdowns. Isaiah Lardomita, whom Johnson replaced, also ran for a touchdown.

The Eagles (1-6) intercepted four passes and held Mountain View to one offensive touchdown. Lardomita put an exclamation point on the big night when he intercepted his second pass of the game and returned it 55-yards four a touchdown with two minutes left in the game.

Hunter Auschwitz ran six times for 78 yards for the Eagles, including a 37-yard touchdown.

Nicholas Santana had a big day for the Saints (0-5). He scored both of the team’s touchdowns — a 75-yard interception return and a 1-yard touchdown run. Santana intercepted three passes on defense, but threw four interceptions playing quarterback.

Lincoln County 55, Calvary Chapel 14 — At Panaca, Noah Smith scored four touchdowns as the Lynx defeated the Lions.

Smith had rushing TDs of 57 and 25 yards. He also returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and had a 75-yard punt return for a score.

He finished with three carries for 90 yards.

Mason Thornock had fie rushes for 94 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown for the Lynx (8-0).

Calvary Chapel fell to 4-3.

Needles 44, Laughlin 0 — At Laughlin, Marcus Turner rushed for six touchdowns to lead the Mustangs over the Cougars.

The Mustangs improved to 7-2.

Laughlin fell to 4-4.

Whittell 63, The Meadows 42 — At Zephyr Cove, the Warriors scored 42 second-half points to pull away from the Mustangs.

The Meadows (3-5) led 14-7 after one quarter, and trailed by a point at 21-20 at halftime.

Whittell improved to 4-4.

Indian Springs 26, Beaver Dam 20 — At Indian Springs, the Thunderbirds earned their first victory with a win over the Diamondbacks.

Indian Springs is 1-5, 1-3 in the Class 1A Southern League. Beaver Dam fell to 2-5, 0-4.