Snowflake continues its ride through the 4A Desert Sky Region, winning its third straight region game and its eighth straight game overall. The 4A rankings were released last week, and the unbeaten Lobos find themselves sitting on top of those rankings.
Their game at Eastmark against the 10th-ranked Firebirds on Friday didn’t slow them down much. Snowflake won the game 26-6.
They did start a little rough in the first half. The first quarter was filled with both teams punting several times and turning the ball over on downs. The scoreboard remained at 0-0 moving into the second quarter.
Eastmark scored the half’s only points late in the second quarter on a short 1-yard run. The kick failed, leaving Snowflake trailing 6-0 at the half.
The Firebirds intercepted Snowflake on the Lobos’ first possession of the second half, but the Lobo defense stepped up and got the ball back on downs.
Brenner Green finally broke through on an 8-yard scoring run midway through the third quarter. The PAT missed, leaving the score tied at 6-6.
Snowflake’s defense held, giving the offense the ball back to start the final quarter with the game tied. The offensive unit punched the endzone again, this time on a Green 3-yard run with eight minutes left in the game, giving Snowflake its first lead at 12-6. The 2-point conversion failed.
Following another stop by the Lobos defense, Green broke free on a 72-yard scoring run. McCoy Norton’s PAT pushed the Lobo lead to 19-6.
Hayydn Nichols quickly extended that lead with a pick-6 interception return from 34 yards out. Norton’s PAT made the final score 26-6 in another Lobo win.
Jacob LaDuke completed 6 of 14 passes for 56 yards with two interceptions. Colter Willis was the favored receiver, finishing with 5 catches for 51 yards.
The offense did its damage on the ground. Green was a workhorse, finishing with 22 carries for 210 total yards with 3 touchdowns. LaDuke ran it 12 times for 65 yards. Christian Smith had one 6-yard tote.
This week, the Lobos will put their number one ranking and unbeaten season on the line when they host Mesquite on Friday night. The Wildcats are 4-4 and are coming off a 34-0 shutout loss to Combs last week. The Lobos defeated Combs 31-14 just three weeks ago, so at least on paper, the Lobos should improve to 10-0 before their big matchup with Arcadia in two weeks in the regular season finale. The Titans are also unbeaten and are ranked right behind the Lobos in the No. 2 spot.
