For the first time this season the Sedona Red Rock High football team struggled to do anything offensively, and defensively, well, the score speaking for itself as they lost to rival Camp Verde High on Friday, Sept. 11, 42-0.

“Defensively we were in gaps all night and just didn’t make the tackle. We killed ourselves with penalties as well and many of our players didn’t come to play,” second year Sedona Head Coach Rob Lezcano said on the field after the game Friday.

If the scorekeepers kept a statistic on penalties the Sedona-Camp Verde game Friday would be one of the most penalized games this season. Over 20 penalties between the two teams were called, pushing the game to over three hours in length.

Offensively, the Scorpions managed only 129 yards on the night, 102 of them on the ground as senior Dylan Watkins had a decent game, carrying the ball 11 times for 75 yards.

Watkins also led the team in tackles against Camp Verde with 15 on the night.

Sophomore quarterback Jack Johnson completed two passes for two yards and senior Pedro Ortega Jr. completed one of three passes for 25 yards under center.

The bigger problem for the Scorpions was the defense who seemed lost at times on the field in front of a packed home crowd Friday night, allowing 541 yards of total offense.

Camp Verde ran it 41 times for 361 yards and five touchdowns while senior Ty Wantland led the way with four carries for 194 yards and two touchdowns.

Wantland caught three balls for 30 yards and a touchdown as well. For a senior who hasn’t reached 5-foot, 5-inches tall yet, it would seem he could be called the engine that could.

“It’s important that we tackle better in the future and keep our penalties down or this kind of loss is going to happen more,” sophomore safety Bradley Cox said.

At the beginning of the game Camp Verde won the coin toss and elected to receive. Lezcano tried a little trickery with an onside kick but it faltered, leaving the Cowboys with good field position.

Less than four minutes later, Camp Verde punched it across the goal line for a score, making it a 6-0 game before Scorpion players could blink.

The methodical offense that was Camp Verde struck two more times in the first quarter as Sedona fans looked up when the period expired and it was 21-0.

A three-touchdown lead is nothing new to the Scorpions who have given their opponents that type of lead in their previous two games but were able to come back.

Sedona did step up in the second quarter, not allowing Camp Verde to score as they found themselves still down 21-0 at halftime.

The Cowboys came out in the third quarter determined to put the game away and did so on a fourth and 15 play on Sedona’s 20-yard line.

Senior quarterback Mike Boler found wideout Jake Spleiss in the open and hit him for a 19-yard strike. Cox actually had two hands on the ball but Spleiss came down with it, giving the Cowboys first and goal at the 1-yard line.

Two plays later, Boler marched in for a score and it was 28-0 Camp Verde. All the air went out of the Sedona players on the sideline, realistically ending the game with 4:21 to go in the third.

“We came out confident the last two games and this week we got down by three scores again, but this time we couldn’t pull closer to give ourselves a chance. We just have to brush it off and keep working hard,” senior center Colton Langmack said.

The Scorpions will get their chance Friday, Sept. 18, to correct some things when they take their 0-3 [0-0, 3A-West] overall record to Estrella Foothills High to open region play.

The Scorpions’ next home game will be homecoming Friday, Sept. 25, against Parker High.

Kickoff for both games is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Brian Bergner Jr. can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 131, or e-mail bbergner@larsonnewspapers.com