Week three of the high school season has half of the local teams on the road and the other two hosting games tonight (Sept. 11).
Joseph City will travel to Gilbert for a match up with Arete Prep. After winning their opening game of the season, the visiting Cats have dropped their past two in a big way, although both losses were to very good teams. The Chargers come into this game 0-2 with lopsided scores in both losses. Joseph City defeated Arete Prep last season, 56-16. Look for the Cats to return to the win column and even their season record at 2-2, although the long road trip won’t make it an easy victory.
The Snowflake Lobos were idle last week, and had two weeks to prepare for their home game against Fountain Hills. The Falcons are 0-2 this season after being outscored by a combined 98-9 in their two games. Snowflake is 2-0 with big wins in both games. Last year the Lobos beat the Falcons 63-29. Expect Snowflake to cruise to a 3-0 record and send the reeling Falcons to 0-3. The Lobos have had a week to rest up and could possibly pitch a shutout tonight.
Winslow dismantled Holbrook last week, earning its first win of the season. The Bulldogs play host to Wickenburg tonight. The Wranglers are also 1-1, having played a couple of tough opponents in Dysart and Glendale. In their two games the Wranglers have put 34 and 29 points on the board. Their offense can obviously score. The question is, can their defense keep Winslow’s rushing attack under control. That Bulldog ground attack piled up more than 300 yards against the Roadrunners last week. If they can come close to that number, they should prevail and move to 2-1 on the season.
The Roadrunners are licking their wounds after last week’s shutout loss to rival Winslow. They will need to regroup quickly in order to move their season mark to 2-1 when they play at Chino Valley tonight. A lengthy road trip will take them to face a Cougar team which is 0-2 on the season. They were shut out by Kingman 15-0, then fell to what is usually a solid Scottsdale Christian team 37-12. Holbrook had four turnovers against Winslow. If the Birds expect to head for home with a win, they have to take better care of the ball. The Roadrunner offense, which was shut down by Winslow last week, will need to find a rhythm early in the contest to keep from playing from behind. Fortunately, they came out of the Winslow game fairly healthy, so they will be heading to Chino Valley at full strength. A Holbrook win would send the squad into what is a very favorable stretch in the schedule for the next month. This game could be a key power point game for Holbrook by the time the regular season comes to a close. If the Birds limit their turnovers, they can return with a win. If they give the ball to the Cougars too many times, especially in their own end of the field, they could be in trouble.
