Down 21-0 at halftime of its regional home opener, Sedona Red Rock High School had nowhere to go but up.
Senior fullback Xavier Turnbull would oblige, churning for two third-quarter rushing touchdowns, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to prevent a 34-21 loss Friday, Sept. 16, to Parker High School.
“We don’t know how to play the first and second quarter,” said Turnbull, who nearly outscored Parker by himself in the second half. “Which is sad. Most teams don’t even know how to play fourth quarter because they’re so worn out. We really only know how to play the third and fourth quarter.”
On the Broncs’ first drive, the Scorpions defense showed early resolve, corralling them on third down at the SRRHS 3-yard-line.
But while an illegal motion penalty nullified a James Hoban touchdown on fourth and goal, and sophomore cornerback Jake Brown subsequently batted down an eight-yard pass in the corner of the end zone, those reprieves for SRRHS would be short-lived.
The Scorpions offense could not get past its own 17, and senior Daniel Bouvim’s 30-yard punt was partially blocked, rolling dead at the SRRHS 48.
Hoban would not be denied after that. His one-yard plunge on the last play of the first quarter would be Hoban’s first of two first-half rushing touchdowns from a yard out, and fellow junior Daniel Aaker’s scoring run with 2:05 to play in the second quarter capped another five-minute Parker drive.
Minus their biggest player, injured 324-pound junior nose guard Justin Aleman, the Scorpions would give up nearly 10 yards a carry to Hoban, who finished with 155 all-purpose yards on the night.
“We’ve just got to be physical right from kickoff,” said Turnbull’s backfield mate, hard-hitting junior Javier Pacheco. “We’ve got to be focused in practice and more committed in the games. That’s where we get better.”
Nothing worked the rest of the half for the Scorpions offense, and an interception of senior quarterback Chas Rescigno with less than 34 seconds to play sent it to the locker room to regroup.
“We just got our minds in the game,” Pacheco said. “We figured out how physical they played.”
Matching that physicality was the big fix the Scorpions would apply in the second half, with Turnbull getting yardage in 20-yard chunks and scoring his two touchdowns right off the bat as the sole setback in their Rocket formation.
“We were using Rocket all night,” said Turnbull, who found a hole up the middle from 12 yards out for his second score. “I thought we needed to use everybody.”
Another Aaker rushing touchdown later in the third quarter, however, allowed the Broncs to keep their distance.
A 20-yard touchdown pass from Rescigno to junior Branaghan Cunningham came too late in the fourth quarter.
