The first full week of football will arrive on Friday night. Holbrook, Winslow and Snowflake will all be in action, while Joseph City will have to delay the start of their season for one day as they won’t play until Saturday morning.
Holbrook will host Chinle on Friday for the initial game of the season for both teams. While these two schools have played regularly in basketball the past several years, they haven’t met on the gridiron since 2012 when the Roadrunners prevailed 28-8. None of the players on either team were even in junior high at that time.
Chinle is coming off a 5-5 season from a year ago, having won four of the past five games last year. The Roadrunners went 2-8 last season but dropped their final six games. With the game being played at Roadrunner Stadium, Holbrook may have the upper hand. Either way Roadrunner fans will get their first view of the new program.
Snowflake will host Benjamin Franklin for their second straight home game to start the season. Last week the Lobos took care of visiting Safford 22-7. The Chargers manhandled Ganado 63-6 in a game played at the dome in Round Valley last week. Benjamin Franklin is based in Queen Creek and will have to make a second long trip up to the mountain in a week. While they piled up points against the Hornets they may find the sledding a little tougher against a good Snowflake unit. This is the first meeting between the two schools with the Chargers recently moving up from the 2A ranks.
Winslow suffered a 28-0 home field shut out last week to Blue Ridge. They played to a scoreless first half, but some third period breakdowns led to the first loss of the season. On Friday they play the first of four consecutive road games when they travel to Monument Valley. This will be the opening game for the Mustangs.
These two schools have a recent history. Last year Winslow prevailed at home by a final of 35-6. The last time the Bulldogs were in Kayenta, two years ago, they left for home with a 24-23 early season loss. The Bulldogs did avenge that loss in the first round of the state playoffs ending Monument’s season that year with a 40-6 setback. Winslow finished last week’s game with less than 250 yards of total offense against Blue Ridge. Look for them to rack up many more yards in what needs to be a win for them as they start the long road streak.
Joseph City will open their season at 10 a.m. Saturday morning facing Bagdad at the Northern Arizona University Skydome. The Wildcats and Sultans haven’t squared off since 2013 when Bagdad soundly won 66-18. The Sultans rolled over Valley Union in their season opener last week by a final of 66-0.
Senior captain Cameron Baldwin returns for the Wildcats after totaling nearly 1,700 yards of total offense as season ago. He passed for over 1,000 of those yards. Head Coach Eldon Larsen always seems to find athletes to give the Wildcats a promising team year in and year out. Starting the season out against Bagdad will be a formidable early season test for Joseph City. The Sultans are traditionally one of the premier teams at the 1A level.
