Roundup: Foothill shows fight after first loss of season

Foothill wide receiver Jordan Blakely knew he needed to bring some swag to the sideline after his team lost its first game last week.

So he brought a pair of white goggles with him on Thursday and once victory was in hand, he proudly put them up and began dancing on the sideline to fire up his teammates. The “clock goggles,” as one teammate dubbed them, showed the Falcons still have plenty of fight in them after a 40-7 loss to Liberty last week.

Their 46-25 win at Green Valley showed that too.

“We showed who we really are. Last week, it was one of our worst games and Liberty had one of its best games,” said Blakely, who had 132 receiving yards and two touchdowns. “We all had to play better.”

The win clinched a home playoff game for Foothill (8-1, 3-1 Southeast League), which cruised after going up 39-12 early in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Koy Riggin threw for 320 yards and five TDs to power his team to victory during a short week.

“We only had three days to prepare for these guys and they had a bye week so they had a full week and a half,” Foothill coach Marty Redmond said. “That was a big concern for us, how they were going to respond after the loss, were we going to be prepared enough because we only had a few days. I was happy to see how they responded tonight.”

The Falcons started sluggish and were down 12-6 after the first quarter. They took the lead 39 seconds before halftime on a Riggin TD pass and then put together a dominant 14 minutes.

Riggin threw two TD passes in the third quarter, Javier Vasquez had a 60-yard interception return for a TD early in the fourth and then a fumble recovered by Colter McKee set up another Riggin TD pass.

“We got the pick six and that was it,” Redmond said. “We got a turnover the very next play and scored the next play after that. We had all the momentum and were able to make a two-touchdown lead a four-touchdown lead.”

The Gators (5-4, 1-3) received 339 passing yards and four TDs from quarterback Garrett Castro. It wasn’t enough against Foothill though, which bounced back from its first taste of adversity this season.

“It was our rivals, their senior night,” Blakely said. “We wanted to ruin it for them.”

Centennial 35, Cimarron-Memorial 10 — At Cimarron, the Bulldogs rallied for 35 second-half points to take down the Spartans.

Trailing 10-0 late in the third quarter, Jordan Smith finally found running room through a stingy Spartans defense and hit pay dirt from 32 yards out to make the score 10-7.

Just more than two minutes later, the Bulldogs picked off a pass, and Gerick Robinson hauled in a 55-yard scoring pass from Colton Tenney to give Centennial its first lead at 14-10 with nine seconds left in the third quarter.

Robinson then returned the subsequent punt 50 yards for a touchdown with 10:43 to play to give the Bulldogs some cusion.

The Centennial defense did its part in the second half as well, not allowing a first down following Jesus Ornela’s 35-yard field goal had put the Spartans up 10-0 with 7:07 to go in the third quarter.

Elijah Chianese caught a 7-yard scoring pass from Tenney, and Marlon Thomas scored on a 3-yard run to round out the scoring for Centennial (7-3, 4-2 Northwest League).

Branden Smith had a 1-yard TD run with 2:36 to go in the second quarter for Cimarron (3-7, 1-5).

“They did a great job of stopping our initial stuff,” Centennial coach Dustin Forshee said of the Spartans. “We just needed that spark. We got a big defensive stop and then the first big run, when we changed the tempo up. After that, we started hitting on all cylinders.”

Calvary Chapel vs. Lake Mead — At Lake Mead, the game was ruled a double forfeit shortly before halftime after persistent personal fouls and chippy play culminated in an on-field scuffle.

Both teams had seen players ejected earlier in the second quarter and the bad blood lingered. After the Lions failed to convert on a fourth-down reverse option pass in Lake Mead territory, players from both teams got tangled up in a wrestling match after the whistle. This was the last action of the night, as the game officials brought a halt to the proceedings with 34 seconds left in the half.

Calvary Chapel led the host Eagles 18-13 when the game was stopped.

“Because they called the game, we lose,” said Lions head coach Brett Russell. “We forfeit our playoff game as well (next week).”

Needles 36, Lincoln County 28 — At Needles, California, Nathan Parker had a hand in three touchdowns as the Mustangs beat the Lynx.

Parker completed 7 of 15 passes for 91 yards and two TDs and also rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown for Needles (8-2, 3-1 2A Southern League).

Marcus Turner rushed for 107 yards and a touchdown for Needles. John Perez and Dillon Horn each caught a TD pass for the Mustangs.

Lincoln county dropped to 8-1, 3-1 2A Southern League.

Pahranagat Valley 48, GV Christian 14 — At Alamo, Jesse Jones and John Hansen each scored two touchdowns as the Panthers beat the Guardians.

Jones had five carries for 132 yards, including a 77-yard TD run. He also caught a 47-yard scoring pass from Preston Higbee.

Hansen had nine carries for 118 yards. He had a 34-yard scoring run and returned a kickoff 72 yards for a touchdown.

Higbee was 5-for-5 for 91 yards and two scores for Pahranagat Valley (6-1, 4-1 1A Southern League). Higbee also had a 4-yard TD run.

GV Christian fell to 2-6, 2-3.

Spring Mountain 53, Beaver Dam 0 — At Littlefield, Arizona, the Golden Eagles scored 20 first-quarter points and rolled past the Diamondbacks.

Spring Mountain (7-1) completed a 5-0 run through the Class 1A Southern League.

Beaver Dam fell to 2-6, 0-5.

Beatty 38, Indian Springs 0 — At Beatty, the Hornets shut out the Thunderbirds.

Beatty improved to 4-2, 3-2 in the Class 1A Southern League.

Indian Springs fell to 1-6, 1-4.