Believe or not we are already nearing the midpoint of the regular season for the local high school teams. The fifth official week of the season has Winslow hosting Tuba City, Snowflake travels to Safford and Joseph City will host El Capitan. The Holbrook Roadrunners have the week off to prepare for next week’s homecoming game against Page.
Strangely enough, despite both schools playing each frequently in the majority of team sports Winslow and Tuba City haven’t met on the football field since 2010. In that meeting the Bulldogs prevailed 51-13. This year the Warriors come in with a 3-1 record with shut out wins over Pinon and Hopi, and a 18-6 win over Chino Valley. Their seasons started with a 59-0 shut out loss to Snowflake.
Winslow is 2-1 with comfortable wins in the past two weeks and like Tuba City they fell in their season opener although it was just a one point loss to Monument Valley. The Bulldogs seem to have righted the ship despite having a fairly young team. Playing their second straight home game will be enough to give them the edge over the Warriors. Their last meeting six years ago was a lopsided affair. This game could be much closer but look for the Dawgs to move to 3-1.
Snowflake is 4-0, but through three and a half quarters last week it didn’t look like they would stay unbeaten. Thatcher gave the Lobos all they could handle before Snowflake prevailed with a 13-12 win. This week Snowflake travels to Safford to face a Bulldog team, which is 2-2 with one of those losses being a six point loss to their rival Thatcher. Safford opened the season with an impressive thirty point win over Payson, then also won in week two against Sahuarita. They have since dropped two straight including the close game with the Eagles.
The long bus ride, plus playing a solid team could be a problem for Snowflake. The Lobos cruised through the first three weeks of the season against lesser opponents, but Friday they will once again face a solid team. Will last week’s emotional game with Thatcher catch up with them, or will they cruise to a 5-0 mark? Snowflake had their shut out streak ended last week. Will their unbeaten streak come to an end this week? This game could be another close one but look for the Lobos to make it through the first half of the season unscathed.
Joseph City will host El Capitan on Friday night. The Wildcats are 3-0 while the Eagles come in 2-1. They have played the same three opponents through the first three weeks. El Capitan defeated Fredonia 68-8, and Greyhills 38-22. They lost to Mayer 57-6. The Wildcats defeated Fredonia 45-0, and Greyhills 38-2. The key indicator for this game is their 24-22 win over Mayer who soundly defeated the Eagles. Based on that match up alone the Wildcats should prevail in this game. Playing at home will be more than enough to move Joseph City to 4-0 on the season.
