Lights
out, shutout for Jags
Horizon
38, Boulder Creek 0
by
Jason Stone
When
Boulder Creek coaches flipped the light switch for last
week’s game against Horizon, nothing happened. By 45 minutes
after the supposed start time, it was obvious that copper
thieves had stolen wires to the lighting system in multiple
locations and the stadium was unusable for the game.
The
contest was rescheduled for the next night and moved to
Deer Valley High School. But the way Boulder Creek played,
coach Dan Friedman probably would have rather just cancelled
the game all together.
Horizon
scored three defensive touchdowns and completely stopped
the Jaguars’ offense in a 38‑0 loss for Boulder
Creek.
After
wins in their first two games, the Jaguars dropped two
straight without scoring a point in either, leaving Friedman
searching for answers for his stagnant offense.
“Our
offense has had trouble all four games to be honest with
you,” Friedman said. “I haven’t been happy with the execution
in any of the games.”
To
be fair, Friedman said the unexpected game rescheduling
may have had an adverse effect on his team. An estimated
crowd of 4,000 showed up for the originally scheduled
game, but the crowd was thin at Deer Valley the next night.
“I
thought we would have a bigger crowd because we were the
only game going on that night,” Friedman said. “But I
don’t think people knew about it.”
Boulder
Creek administrators told Friedman this week that the
lights will be fixed in time for this week’s freshman
football game Sept. 19 and the varsity game Sept. 20.
Police
investigators told school officials that the copper wires
were cut mostly the night before last week’s game was
to be played. Administrators initially thought they could
reconnect the wires, but when they found them cut in multiple
locations, the game was postponed.
Copper
theft has become an increasing problem in Arizona, and
it’s the second time Anthem was tagged. The Anthem Community
Center recently had copper wires stolen as well.
“In
my 22 years of football, I’ve never seen anything like
that,” Friedman said.
Because
they played Saturday, the Jaguars will have an extra‑short
week. Boulder Creek is hosting South Mountain (2‑1)
a day early this week because the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur
starts at sundown Friday.
