THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Van Buren High School Athletics

Safford and Snowflake were separated by just three points for almost three quarters of Friday’s Division 3A, inter-sectional football game. And with both teams coming off two consecutive losses to top-notch competition, one or two key plays promised to shape the outcome. And with the Lobos leading the visiting Bulldogs in the final three minutes, the home team converted a third-and-long situation with a great, leaping catch by David Brimhall. Then a few plays later, when facing fourth-and-2 with about a minute left, Brimhall ran for a seven-yard gain on a fake punt, enabling Snowflake to keep the ball and run out the clock. “We just came back hungry,” said Snowflake junior quarterback Traegon Standerfer. “We were ready for a win. We were tired of losing. We worked really hard all week.” Two long touchdown passes within a span of 2:08 in the first half proved all the Lobos needed for the 13-10 win. Safford scored on its first two offensive possessions. The Bulldogs took the opening kickoff and marched down the field to the Snowflake 8. But the drive stalled on a penalty and sophomore Cameron Abril kicked a 39-yard field goal to give Safford a 3-0 lead. The Bulldogs went 76 yards in three plays on the next series to extend their lead. Runs of 31 and 4 yards by senior quarterback Manuel Aparicio set up a 41-yard touchdown run by freshman C.J. Scrivner, and after Abril’s point-after kick, Safford led 10-0 with 2:32 left in the first quarter. But the Lobos stormed back with a three-play, 80-yard scoring drive. Senior Taden Flake hauled in a pass from Traegon Standerfer and Flake outran the Bulldog defense to the end zone for a 77-yard touchdown. After forcing Safford to punt on the next series, the Lobos scored in one play — a 71-yard pass from Standerfer to senior Tyler Brimhall, who was also able to get behind the Bulldog defense. The game was scoreless for the last 35:27. A costly holding penalty nullified a 75-yard TD run by the Bulldogs in the third quarter. Snowflake’s offense gained eight of its 12 first downs in the second half while the defense held Safford to just two. The Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs on two of their three second-half possessions, and punted on the other. “Our defense played really good we only let them score 10. That’s pretty good defense, I’d say,” said Brimhall, the Lobos’ junior linebacker. “The whole defense stuck together and played well tonight.” Snowflake finished with negative yardage on the ground but Standerfer overcame getting sacked seven times (six in the second half) with 13-of-16 passing for 295 yards and the two scores. Special teams got involved. Safford muffed a punt and Snowflake recovered (the game’s only turnover) to keep the first series of the second half going, and in the fourth quarter, Safford blocked a Lobo punt but the Bulldogs were unable to convert the opportunity into a score. “We sustained some drives (in the second half),” said Snowflake head coach Kay Solomon. “We didn’t put any points on the board but we did manage to move the ball down the field and eat some clock. “I was telling the kids coming down the stretch that we need to finish this and keep the ball this last little bit, and burn some time off the clock. That’s hard to do when you don’t have a running game. But we managed to do just enough and complete some passes. There were great plays by Brimhall and Traegon. I don’t know how many times Traegon got sacked. but I give him a lot of credit for staying in there and finding open receivers and just managing to do enough.” Snowflake, which improved to 3-2, has a bye this week and will travel to Winslow on Friday, Sept. 29 for the 3A East opener. Snowflake 13, Safford 10 Scoring by quarters Safford 10 0 0 0 — 10 Snowflake 7 6 0 0 — 13 Scoring summary First quarter SAF-Cameron Abril 39 field goal; 5:28 SAF-C.J. Scrivner 41 run (Abril kick); 2:32 SF-Taden Flake 77 pass from Traegon Standerfer (Caden Despain kick); 1:35 Second quarter SF-Tyler Brimhall 71 pass from Standerfer (Kick failed); 11:27 Team statistics SAF SF First downs 10 12 Rushed-yards 35-240 29-(minus 4) Comp.-att.-int. 7-13-0 13-16-0 Passing yards 91 295 Total offense 331 291 Sacks-opp.yd.lost 7-39 4-14 Punts-average 3-39.7 3-24.3 Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0 Penalties-yards 9-85 4-25 Individual statistics RUSHING — SAF: Manuel Aparicio 27-160, C.J. Scrivner 2-44, Dylan Dorrell 2-25, Keaton John 4-11. SF: David Brimhall 7-23, Cody Fox 4-12, Jace Merrell 5-7, Jake Christensen 1 (minus 2), Traegon Standerfer 12-(minus 39). PASSING (Comp.-att.-yds.-TDs-ints.) — SAF: Aparicio 7-13-91-0-0. SF: Standerfer 13-16-295-2-0. RECEIVING — SAF: Cameron Abril 4-83, Scrivner 1-6, Payson Harsh 1-2, Taylor Hornelaz 1-0. SF: Taden Flake 3-91, Tyler Brimhall 1-71, D.Brimhall 2-55, Garrett Wood 3-52, Merrell 2-17, Fox 2-9. TACKLES (Def. stats) — SAF: Bailey Sanford 10 (sack), Hornelaz 7 (1 1/2 sacks), Ezra Boughner 5 (1 1/2 sacks, blocked punt), Jopaul Arbizo 5 (1 1/2 sacks), Ralph Frias 4 (blocked punt recovery), Collin Thompson (blocked punt). SF: Brimhall 13, Jace Merrell 9, Brydon Hatch 8, Christensen 6 (1/2 sack), Caleb Uchytil 6, Hunter Taylor 4 (1 1/2 sacks), Justin White (sack), Davis Kay (sack).

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Van Buren High School Athletics

LOBOS ‘DO JUST ENOUGH,’ EDGE BULLDOGS 13-10

ANDY STATEN

White Mountain Independent | 9/22/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Staten