The second official week of the football season will arrive on Friday night and each of the four area teams has at least one game under their belts. Holbrook (1-0) gets an early season bye this week, after their come from behind win over Chinle last week. They will have to be able to carry last week’s momentum over until next Friday when they host Ganado.
Winslow bounced back from their loss to Blue Ridge to start the season with a solid 43-28 road win at Monument Valley last week. On Friday night they will travel to face an intriguing Page team that has rolled through their first two opponents. Wins over Payson and Florence have shown the Sand Devils may be one of the favorites to come out on top in the north region.
Last week against the Mustangs, Winslow piled up 396 rushing yards led by junior back Mason Scott who finished with 191 of those yards. If the Bulldogs can muster that type of running game again they can control the clock and possibly hand Page their first loss. Winslow has won the past two meetings against Page in each of the past two years by wide margins. Page appears to be for real this year and the Bulldogs may have their hands full, especially playing on the road for the second straight week.
Snowflake saw their record drop to 1-1 after last week’s hard fought loss to Benjamin Franklin who appears to be one of the favorites from the southern part of the state. This week they travel for the first time this season with a long trip to face Florence. The Gophers are 0-1 with a lopsided loss to Page last week. The last meeting between the two schools was three years ago with Snowflake prevailing by a touchdown. Don’t expect this game to be that close. Untimely turnovers hurt the Lobos last week. If they take better care of the ball expect them to bounce back into the win column in a big way in Florence.
Joseph City played tough in a six-point loss to a very good Bagdad team last week in the dome in Flagstaff. Friday night they will be at Valley Union who has owned them in the past two seasons. The Blue Devils won 48-12 last year, and 54-16 the year before that. Expect the tables to turn this week. Despite being early in the season the two teams already have one common opponent in Bagdad. The Wildcats fell by a touchdown last week, while Valley Union was shut out by the Sultans in the first week 66-0. Based off that result, along with the fact the Blue Devils were shut out last week 54-0 by Superior, expect the Wildcats to avenge last week’s loss, as well as their previous two meetings with the Blue Devils.
