Back-to-back state champions. That is what this year’s version of the Snowflake Lobo football team can now be called. Their 10-3 win over Yuma Catholic in the title game played at Campo Verde High School on Saturday evening is their first back-to-back title since the mid 90’s where they won three in a row.
Both the second seeded Lobos and the fourth seeded Shamrocks came into the game with highly touted offenses, but in this game, it was both squad’s defenses that led the way. Only one touchdown was scored and that belonged to Rhett Wengert and the champion Lobos.
Both high-powered offenses were limited to just less than 300 yards apiece, which is a testament to how good both defenses were. Yuma Catholic’s star quarterback Richard Stallworth came into the game with 67 touchdown passes this year and, in this game, threw none.
Snowflake’s Caden Cantrell had 37 touchdown passes, and like his cohort, he also had none in the title game, although he was a little banged up from the semi-final win a week earlier. Stallworth completed 15 of 28 passes for only 141 yards with one interception. Cantrell completed 7 of 15 attempts for only 83 yards.
Yuma Catholic had the opening possession and put together a 12-play scoring drive, which ended in a 30 yard field goal by Logan Rush. This score came with 6:18 left in the first period. Nobody would have guessed that would be the final points from such a powerful Yuma Catholic team.
Snowflake’s first possession was a 16-play drive, which ended with a missed 49-yard field goal by Sam Crockett leaving the Lobos trailing 0-3 with just eight seconds left in the first.
Midway through the second, Yuma Catholic again moved down the field but missed a 34-yard field goal attempt.
After holding the Lobos to a three and out, the Shamrocks again moved into field goal position but their 47-yard attempt was blocked by Snowflake’s Bradden Lewis.
That block gave the Lobos some momentum and they moved the ball into Shamrock territory before their drive stalled. Crockett’s field goal attempt to tie the game from 26 yards out was not successful, leaving Snowflake trailing 0-3 at the half.
Snowflake came out strong in the third period and appeared to surge into the lead when Wengert broke free for an apparent 42-yard scoring run. Unfortunately, the ball was stripped by Yuma at the two-yard line and recovered in the endzone by the Shamrocks resulting in a touchback.
A series of punts by both teams and some untimely failed fourth down conversions left the score at 3-0.
One of those fourth down fails was a fake punt attempt by Yuma Catholic with 5:14 left in the third. Snowflake’s defense held, setting up their offense with great field position at midfield. The Lobos used that momentum putting together an eight-play drive that was capped by Wengert’s 11-yard touchdown run. Crockett’s point after kick made the score 7-3 in Snowflake’s favor.
The Lobos defense repeatedly held the Shamrocks in check. Their offense struggled, but finally, with 2:17 left in the game, Crockett came on and connected on a 30-yard field goal, making the score 10-3.
Yuma Catholic tried to mount one last drive in the final two minutes but when quarterback Stallworth ran out of bounds two yards short of the first down on a fourth down carry, the ball game was over and the Lobos began to celebrate their second state title in two years.
Crockett completed his only pass for 12 yards on a fake punt play.
Wengert had four receptions totaling 43 yards. Noah Baum caught three for 40 yards and Davyn McCray’s fourth down catch on the fake punt went for 12 yards.
Camden Brimhall carried 24 times for 119 yards. Wengert had 10 totes for 81 yards with the game’s only touchdown. Jett McCray had two rushes for 3 total yards.
Yuma’s leading rusher was Devon Black with 140 yards on 18 carries. Austin Rush had four receptions for 54 total yards.
Yuma Catholic ends their season with an overall record of 12-2 and for the second year in a row, their final loss was in the title game to Snowflake.
The Lobos dropped their first game of the year but since week one they put together a 13-game winning streak and finished as the 3A State Champion for the second year in a row.
