Traveling to the Valley for Saturday’s football game against Sahuarita the Roadrunners knew they would be in for a tough task. What they may not have anticipated was a game in which they finished with negative total yards in a 46-0 shut out loss. The Mustangs came in with a 2-1 record but had played well against tough teams in all three games. The Roadrunners came in 1-1 on the season, but fresh off an 18-0 shut out home field loss to Ganado.
Early in the game it became obvious that Sahuarita would be in control of the line of scrimmage. The Mustangs spent most of the night in Holbrook’s offensive backfield, either chasing quarterback Tyson Begay or tackling any of the Holbrook running backs before they could gain positive yards. Holbrook also had continued problems executing the shotgun snap, especially when in punt formation.
On three occasions Holbrook’s punt team set up Sahuarita with a very short field. Twice they had the ball first and goal inside the five yard line, which subsequently turned into easy touchdowns. More importantly Holbrook’s best offensive weapon Jeffrey Jones was injured on a botched punt play trying to pick up a first down. Jones sat out the final three quarters of play really limiting what was already a struggling offense.
The Mustangs scored three times in the first period, twice on short running plays and once on a 19-yard scoring toss to lead 21-0 after the first period. In the second they tacked on four additional scores primarily thanks to their great field position, which was set up by Holbrook’s offensive and special team struggles. Their 46-0 halftime lead marked the end of the scoring. In the second half with a lot of younger players on the field for both teams and a running clock neither team really threatened to score.
Holbrook did start the half with a spark recovering a Mustang fumble, but they quickly went backwards thanks to penalties and their offensive woes.
Holbrook finished the night with just two first downs, one of which was garnered via a Mustang penalty. With the loss the Roadrunners drop their season mark to 1-2.
On Friday night they will travel to Window Rock to face a Scouts team also coming off a lopsided loss, losing to Paradise Honors 51-6. The Scouts are currently 2-2 on the season.
