By Greg Perkins Snowflake’s opening game of the season loss now seems a distant memory as they have bounced back in the past three weeks including their 41-0 road shut-out at Blue Ridge on Friday night. Two of the past three meetings between these two 3A East giants have been one score games and the other was a 12-point outcome. Friday night’s game was never even close. Blue Ridge did hold the Lobos the first two times Snowflake had the ball, and the Jackets moved to field goal range on their first possession, but the kick missed. Snowflake’s third possession got the scoreboard rolling in their favor. Following a big gain to Blue Ridge’s four-yard line Caden Cantrell found Tyler Clare for a short touchdown pass. Sam Crockett’s point after kick made the score 7-0 in the final minute of the first period. Cantrell capped off the next Lobo drive with a three yard rushing touchdown pushing the lead to 14-0 midway through the second period. Snowflake appeared to be driving for a third score but a Cantrell pass was picked off in the end zone with three minutes left in the half. The Lobo defense quickly got the ball back and Snowflake posted three more points before the half on a Crockett 32-yard field goal making the score 17-0 at the half. Both teams struggled to gain momentum through the first three possessions of the third period and the quarter ended without any more points being added to the 17-0 Lobo lead. Early in the fourth, Crockett booted a 46-yard field goal extending the lead to 20-0. That field goal was a new school record for Crockett. Snowflake’s defense took advantage of a miscue by the Yellowjacket punt team setting up the Lobo offense with great field position. Two plays later Camden Brimhall scored from 12 yards out making the lead 27-0 with Crockett’s point after kick. Leading by 27, the Lobos attempted an onside kick and successfully recovered it. Just a couple of plays later the gamble paid off when Cantrell found JJ Lerma for a 10-yard touchdown pass making the lead 34-0. The Lobo defense got into the scoring column when Rhett Wengert stripped the ball away from a Blue Ridge runner, scooped it up, and scored from 32 yards out for the final points of the night in the 41-0 Lobo win. Cantrell finished the night with 13 completions for 174 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. Lerma had 5 catches for 57 yards. Tyler Clare, 4 for 52; Noah Baum, 2 for 37; Davyn McCray, 1 for 23; Brimhall, 1 for 20; Cantrell, 1 for 10; Eduardo Guevara, 1 for 8; and Jett McCray had one six-yard reception. Brimhall led the Lobo rushing attack with 104 yards on 8 carries. Lerma picked up 41 yards on 4 attempts. Gage Papa had 3 for 17, Cantrell carried 9 times for 10 total yards, McCray gained 6 yards on 2 rushes, and Easton Butler had one carry for 1 yard.
