The Lobos moved to 2-0 on the season but it wasn’t easy. Playing their old 3A East rival Cougars in Show Low on Friday night, the now 4A Lobos had all they could handle with their rival.
Snowflake made it look easy early on when Easton Butler found Lance Christensen for a 64-yard catch and run in the opening moments of the game putting the Lobos on top 7-0, with Bradden Lewis’ point after kick.
The Lobos doubled their score late in the opening quarter when Butler found Davyn McCray for a 14-yard scoring toss pushing the lead to 14-0 with the Lewis kick.
Show Low’s Nash Brewer cut into the Lobo lead late in the first scoring on a seven-yard run. Calvin Morgan’s point after kick made the score 14-7 in favor of Snowflake.
After the two teams traded turnovers and punts through much of the second quarter, Lewis booted a 24-yard field goal putting Snowflake up 17-7 at the half.
In the third quarter, San Brown booted a 25-yard field goal putting Snowflake up 20-7 near the midpoint of the period. That would be Snowflake’s final points of the night. The rest of the game belonged to the defense.
Snowflake’s offense was responsible for the Cougar’s next points as Brewer scooped up a Lobo fumble and returned it 49 yards making the score 20-14 in favor of the Lobos with under a minute left in the third.
The teams traded turnovers throughout the fourth quarter with neither team able to score any more points. The win moved Snowflake’s record to 2-0 and drops the Cougars to 2-1
Butler completed eight of 19 passes for 181 yards, with a pair of touchdowns but threw three interceptions. Lewis was the leading rusher picking up 87 yards on 16 runs. JJ Lerma gained 21 yards on six runs. Jett McCray had four carries totaling 18 yards. Butler carried 10 times gaining seven yards.
Christensen had just three catches but they totaled 100 yards and a score. Davyn McCray had two grabs for 21 yards with a score. Lerma caught a 39-yard pass, and Tyler Clare had one 16-yard catch.
Snowflake had six total turnovers in the game, and will need to clean those up if they expect to make any noise at the 4A level.
Matt Brimhall was a stud on defense finishing the night with 17 total tackles. Lewis had 9.
This week the Lobos return to 4A action when they host Glendale on Friday night. The Cardinals are 0-2 on the season and coming off a huge loss to Prescott last week.
