The Sedona Red Rock High School football team led 27-18 after three quarters at Chino Valley High School, but gave up 10 unanswered points in the fourth to lose 28-27 on Friday, Sept. 1.
After the Scorpions [0-2] were stopped inside of the Cougars’ 10 yard line, Chino Valley [2-0] senior kicker Matt Rios hit a 47-yard field goal with less a minute remaining to seal the comeback victory.
The Scorpions [0-2] outscored Chino Valley 7-6 in each of the first two quarters for a 14-12 halftime lead. They scored 13 more in the third while again giving up just six.
Red Rock torched the Cougar defense with big plays, many sparked by senior quarterback Javi Pacheco. Pacheco found junior Evan Favorite for a 77-yard touchdown. Favorite, also a soccer player, caught the ball at the Cougar 44 yard line before outrunning the trailing defenders the rest of the way.
Pacheco also picked out senior Anthony Van Dezor in the corner of the endzone for a 21-yard score. Van Dezor reached over his defender, who was caught turning his head at the exact moment the ball arrived, to pull it in.
Freshman Jackson Coughlin had a big catch-and-run from the slot that was good for 59 yards.
The Cougars scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to pull within two at 27-25, a lead for Red Rock that held for most of the quarter.
The Scorpions had a chance to make it a two-possession game when Favorite took an interception inside the Cougars’ 10 yard line later in the quarter, but Red Rock was kept out of the end zone.
Chino Valley’s offense only scored one touchdown per quarter, but gained yards at a huge clip, largely on the play of junior quarterback Michael Paulus.
Paulus gashed the Scorpions defense for 276 yards rushing on 27 carries and three scores. He was also nine for 23 passing with 141 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. No other Cougar eclipsed 50 yards combined; as a team it gained 494 yards in total.
Pacheco kept the ball, too, and broke off a few big runs as well. He scored on a keeper from four yards out and another from 19, breaking two tackles along the way.
Aside from the two picks, Van Dezor scooped up a short snap on an attempted punt for a touchdown, from within the Cougars’ own five yard line. Pacheco forced another fumble that rolled out of bounds.
Red Rock seeks its first win of 2017 at its first home game of the season at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8, against Holbrook High School, which is also winless.
NOTE: This story was updated with information gathered after the print deadline on Wednesday, Sept. 6.
Scorpions Home Opener
Friday, Sept. 8
7 p.m.
Sedona Red Rock
High School
vs.
Holbrook High School
About the opponent:
Holbrook is winless through its first two games, losing by a combined score of 60 to 19. The Roadrunners play in Conference 3A.
Last season:
The Scorpions lost to the Roadrunners 36-0 in 2016.
The matchup:
Red Rock looks to pick up its first win of the season when Holbrook visits red rock country. The Scorpions narrowly lost to another 3A opponent, Chino Valley High School, last week on a last minute 47-yard field goal.
