Homecoming night wasn’t what Roadrunner fans, players, or coaches were hoping for with visiting Payson dismantling Holbrook in a 56-0 loss.
Holbrook, which has struggled with turnovers throughout the season had three more in this game and found themselves backed up inside their own 10-yard line when a bad snap over quarterback Anthony Nelson’s head went into the end zone. Nelson had to fall on it giving Payson the early 2-0 lead with 6:41 left in the first period. Payson got a more traditional score with 5:18 left in the period on a four yard run from Kyle Shepard making the score 8-0 after Holbrook blocked the point after attempt. Payson added to their total on the final play of the first quarter on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Cline to Shepard pushing the lead to 14-0.
With 6:55 left in the first half, Cline connected with Tim McCarthy on a 33-yard scoring toss making the score 22-0. Just moments later Holbrook again had issues on the shot gun snap with Nelson having to recover the ball in his own endzone giving Payson their second safety of the game and a 24-0 lead.
Cline scored on a 67-yard run at the 3:35 mark of the half, then inside the final minute of the half Cline and McCarthy again hooked up, this time on a 38-yard catch and run pushing the lead to 43-0 at the half.
With the running clock in play for the second half Payson picked up one third period score and added their final score in the fourth period, both coming from freshman running back Travis Christianson.
With the win Payson improved their season mark to 4-2. They will play in Snowflake this week. With the loss Holbrook falls to 1-4. The Roadrunners will travel to Winslow on Friday for the battle of I-40. Winslow fell at Show Low last week with a 35-18 setback. The Bulldogs will enter Friday’s tilt with Holbrook with an overall season mark of 4-3.
