On Oct. 10, the Winslow Bulldogs hosted the Chinle Wildcats in what would be an epic come-back game that would have fans in the stands on their feet through most of the fourth quarter. The first half would belong to the Wildcats, but in the second half the Bulldogs would whittle away the Wildcat lead and in the fourth quarter the Bulldogs offense and defense would take control and only show determination and dig deep for the victory.
In the first quarter, the Wildcats would score first at the mid-way mark on an eight-yard pass from quarterback Ryan Brown to Cody Curley. The 2-point conversion would fail. With just a little over two minutes remaining, Bulldog Michael Romero would score on a 24-yard run, no point after. The quarter would end with the game tied at 6 points each.
In the second quarter, Brown would score on a four-yard keeper then connect with Trevor Francis for the 2-point conversion. On their next drive, Wildcat Brown would connect with Dechelly Nalwood on a six-yard pass and would also connect again on the 2-point. Bulldog Romero would score on a 25-yard run, but the 2-point conversion would fail. With less than two minutes in the half Brown would connect with Francis for a 48-yard pass run, but the 2-point conversion failed. Chinle would head into the locker room with a 16-point lead, for a halftime score of Winslow 12, Chinle 28.
In the third quarter, Romero would score on a two-yard run, no point after. Late in the quarter on a fourth down, Wildcat Nalwood would score on a two-yard pass, Brown would connect with De’quan Nelson for the 2-point conversion. At the end of the third quarter Bulldog Joseph Guerrero wasn’t about to let the game get out of reach and on the Chinle kick-off he would return it for a 79-yard touchdown, followed by quarterback Gino Quinones 2-point conversion keeper. This would put the Bulldogs within 10 points of catching the Wildcats.
In the fourth quarter the Bulldogs would leave it all on the field, starting when Bulldog James Mendoza would recover a Chinle fumble at the one-yard line, preventing a Wildcat touchdown. A few plays later Romero would see the end-zone on a 79-yard run that he would have to break numerous tackles just to get there. Romero wasn’t done, he would strip the ball from a Wildcat and run 20 yards before they would catch him.
A few plays later Bulldog Bryce Williams would score on a two-yard carry, followed by Quinones connecting with Guerrero on the 2-point conversion. This made the final score Winslow 40, Chinle 36.
Winslow was 5 of 11 for 59 yards passing, 202 yards rushing for a total of 261 yards.
Winslow will travel to Kingman for a Bulldog face-off at 7 p.m. on Oct. 18.
