By Greg Perkins Snowflake lost just once last year enroute to their 3A State championship run. That one loss came in the middle of their season, but they bounced back quite well. This year’s title defense team has already started with a loss. The Lobos entered Friday’s game at Valley Christian ranked in the overall top spot, but the fifth ranked Trojans had other ideas. The game was actually close throughout but two Trojan interceptions of Caden Cantrell were returned for scores, with the second one putting the game out of reach in the waning moments with Valley Christian prevailing 38-24. Valley Christian’s Justin Erickson returned a Cantrell pass 90 yards late in the third period building the Trojan’s lead to 31-6. Cantrell played well throughout the game despite the two picks. He connected with Tyler Clare twice for scores, including one on the final play of the first half, which made the score 10-6 at the break. Cantrell finished the night with 227 yards on 18 of 30 attempts. He threw three touchdowns and had the two picks. Cantrell was also the Lobos leading rusher with 76 yards on 14 attempts. Camden Brimhall gained 42 yards on 13 totes and JJ Lerma rushed four times for 19 total yards. Noah Baum was Cantrell’s favorite target with four receptions for 86 yards and one touchdown. Brimhall had 51 yards on three catches. Lance Christensen had 35 yards on three grabs; Davyn McCray also had three catches for 33 yards; and Tyler Clare had two catches for 21 yards, but both receptions were for touchdowns. Lerman had two catches for 11 yards. Snowflake finished the night with 364 total yards. Valley Christian had just 281 total yards, but two defensive scores really kept them in control. Snowflake will host Ganado on Friday. The Hornets were supposed to play Holbrook last week, but had to cancel the game due to an inhouse COVID issue. If they can play this week, they may not be much of a threat for a really good Lobo team looking to redeem themselves from the week one loss.
