Thanks to their impressive regular season record, which in turn earned them the second overall seed in the 4A playoffs, the Lobos will be playing their fourth consecutive home game on Friday night when they host Canyon Del Oro in the semifinal round of the playoffs.
At the 4A level, the higher-seeded team hosts all the way through the semi-final round, meaning both Snowflake and top-seeded ALA Gilbert North, will both play on their respective home fields. Both teams incidentally were moved up from 3A to 4A in football this year. The championship game will be played at Sun Devil Stadium on Dec. 9. ALA Gilbert North hosts 13th-seeded Lake Havasu in the other semifinal game.
The Lobos earned their home game with a 23-3 win over visiting Prescott in the quarterfinal round played at Lobo Stadium last Friday night. Prescott came into the game as the No. 10 seed having upset seventh-seeded Apache Junction in the second round.
Snowflake received the opening kick-off and quickly went three and out punting the ball away. A fumble recovery by Jordan Mowers gave the Lobos the ball back in good field position to start their second drive. Snowflake moved the ball down the field behind runs by JJ Lerma and eventually put the first three points of the game on the board midway through the opening frame with a 23-yard field goal by Sam Brown.
A second big defensive play by Mowers forced a second Badger punt. Jett McCray’s long run set up Snowflake’s second score of the game which came on a three-yard run by Matthew Brimhall with two minutes left in the opening quarter. Brown’s point-after kick gave the Lobos a 10-0 lead.
Brimhall ended the quarter by picking off a Prescott pass and returning it to the Badger 24-yard line. Unfortunately, the Lobos failed to get points off that turnover giving the ball back to Prescott following a failed fourth down attempt.
Brimhall found the endzone for the second time in the half, again on a three-yard run extending the lead to 17-0 which held until halftime.
Prescott took advantage of a Lobo mistake and kicked a 31-yard field goal with eight minutes left in the third making the score 17-3.
The Lobos countered with a sustained drive capped by a 10-yard scoring run from Lerma. The PAT missed, but the Lobos had a 20-point lead at 23-3 late in the third quarter.
Neither team was able to score in the final period leaving Snowflake with a spot in the 4A semifinal round on Friday.
Brennan Bryant completed just five of his 14 pass attempts for only 25 yards. Easton Butler was one for two for 32 yards. Bradden Lewis had four of the six total receptions for 34 yards. Butler had one 21-yard catch and Tyler Clare caught a short two-yard toss.
Snowflake did most of their damage on the ground piling up 284 rushing yards. Lerma eclipsed the century mark with 109 yards on 16 carries with a score. McCray gained 75 yards on seven runs. Easton Butler picked up 43 yards on six runs. Lewis had 33 on eight totes. Karter Raban gained 13, and Brimhall had eight yards on three attempts with two of those runs finding the endzone.
Brimhall again led the defense with 15 total tackles. Lewis had nine stops. Cooper Rapier and Mowers each had eight tackles. Two of Mower’s were quarterback sacks. Braden LaDuke and Jhett Yellowhair also had one sack each. Braden Frost, Austin Flake and Brimhall each had an interception.
Canyon Del Oro, the sixth seed in the bracket defeated No. 14 Thunderbird 28-3 in their quarterfinal matchup. The Dorado are now 10-2 on the season. They squeaked by St. Mary’s 13-7 in the first round, then handled Thunderbird easily last week. Their only two losses came vs 5A Marana on Sept. 23, and three weeks ago to 4A Mica Mountain in their final regular season game.
