By Greg Perkins The Roadrunners improved to 7-1 on Saturday evening with another easy win over a lower ranked 2A team, defeating the visiting Pirates 65-12. Valley Sanders entered the game ranked 36th in power points and despite the win, Holbrook could possibly drop in rankings again. Following last week’s win over 43rd ranked Hopi, the Roadrunners dropped from third to sixth in power points due in part to the rankings of their opponents. Valley actually started the game on a positive note. Holbrook fumbled the opening kick-off and following a personal foul penalty on the Roadrunners the Pirates found themselves quickly inside Holbrook’s 21-yard line. A quick toss for a touchdown put the visitors on top 6-0 very early in the game. That lead was short-lived. Holbrook stormed back quickly putting points on the board often resulting in a huge win. Marcus Oberriter completed 10 of his 14 passes for 197 yards with four touchdowns. He only completed passes to two receivers but both found the end zone. Kyle Smith had five catches for 84 yards with three scores. Izzy Ramos had five grabs for 113 yards with one score. Daniel Montijo stole the spotlight on the ground where he carried 13 times picking up 174 yards, with three touchdowns. Oberriter also carried 13 times picking up 77 yards scoring twice. Ramos carried three times for 30 yards with a score. Noah Padilla had four rushes for 15 yards. Kalub Trujillo carried twice picking up 15 yards. Malakai Johnson had one 11-yard carry, and Mason Archunde rushed once for seven yards. Holbrook’s defense forced multiple Pirate turnovers and only allowed one additional touchdown following the early Valley score. This week’s opponent will be a large step up for the Roadrunners. Friday night Holbrook will travel to St. Johns to face the Redskins for what will be the 2A Little Colorado region crown. St. Johns is embedded in football tradition with coach Mike Morgan being the winningest high school football coach in Arizona, a crown he earned with last year’s win over Holbrook. This year the Redskins have struggled record wise with three losses, although those losses are to three very good teams. Round Valley and Show Low are two of the best from the 3A east region, and third ranked Morenci soundly beat the Redskins at the end of September. While the Redskins are having a down year by their traditional very high standards they will still be a huge roadblock for Holbrook to overcome. St. Johns has played a tougher schedule overall, although both teams have had some easy outings over some of the other teams in the Salt River region. The two teams strangely have just two opponents in common at this point. St. Johns defeated Valley 65-0, and Pinon 61-0. Holbrook beat the same two teams 65-12 and 49-0. With this game being played in St. Johns, the weather will be cooler, but the match-up on the field will be fun to watch. This could be a high scoring game. Holbrook has the ability to score quickly as do the Redskins. Both teams have given up a lot of points in their losses. The best defensive effort might be the key for the winning team. Also, on the line for Holbrook could be a home playoff game. If the Roadrunners can finish the regular season ranked eighth or higher in the 2A power points they would host a first round game on Nov. 5. A win over St. Johns would most likely secure that home field playoff game. A loss would potentially put Holbrook on the road in the first round. Holbrook does not have a regular season game scheduled for Oct. 29, the final week of the regular season, and will have to await the final games that week to see exactly where they will land in the state playoff bracket.
