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Boulder Creek senior Devin Contreras slips past the grip of Willow Canyon junior Collin Stoffel during a second-quarter play last Friday in Anthem. Willow Canyon erased an 8-2 first-half lead to beat the Jaguars 28-15.
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No Homecoming cooking
Willow Canyon 28, Boulder Creek 15
Third quarter does in BC at Homecoming
by Jason Stone

ANTHEM – With all the hoopla that comes with playing a Homecoming football game, it’s sometimes easy to forget that the main part of the event is the actual game.

Unfortunately for Boulder Creek fans, the Jaguars played the second half of last week’s game against Willow Canyon like Homecoming had already ended with the halftime festivities.

Willow Canyon scored 26 unanswered points in the second half to take control of the game and hand Boulder Creek its fourth loss in the last five games 28‑15.

“This is two weeks in a row that honestly we should have taken care of business and won,” said coach Dan Friedman, whose team now gets a bye week to regroup. “I think the bye is coming at a bad time because you don’t want to go into a bye week with a sour taste in your mouth and that’s what we have right now.”

The Jaguars, who fell to 3‑4 with the loss and to No. 17 in the 5A‑Division II power poll, outgained Willow Canyon in total yardage and appeared to have the game in control during the first half.

Boulder Creek held a halftime lead after Taylor Davis completed a 24‑yard scoring pass to Chris Russell halfway through the second quarter. Willow Canyon was up 2‑0 after Boulder Creek snapped a ball over the punter’s head in the end zone during the first quarter, but Russell’s TD catch, and a Davis 2‑point conversion run put Boulder Creek up 8‑2 at halftime.

But the second half was all Willow Canyon. The Wildcats scored two minutes into the half when Justin Weber hauled in a 10‑yard pass that was deflected off of two players to make the game 9‑8.

“Man, are we just snakebitten or what?” Friedman said about the play.

Just three minutes after that, Willow Canyon quarterback Trey Clarida tossed another scoring pass–this time to Daniel Torres from 24 yards out, making the score 15‑8. Joey Cota extended the score to 22‑8 four minutes later with a 5‑yard touchdown run.

“Those five minutes happened fast,” Friedman said.

As Boulder Creek was attempting to rally Willow Canyon put a stop to that with a little under four minutes to go. The Jaguars had moved the ball to first and goal at the Wildcat 1‑yard‑line, but penalties and a sack moved the ball back.

Willow Canyon’s Justin Jones then picked up a fumble and rumbled 82 yards for the game‑clinching score.

The Jaguars finished out the scoring with a minute left in the game when Davis threw his second touchdown pass of the game, a 30‑yarder to Brandin Moore.

Boulder Creek fell to 1‑1 in the Northwest Region going into the bye week. The Jaguars will return to action Oct. 19 at Kingman.

“In terms in getting rest and getting the team healthy, the (bye week) is good,” Friedman said. “But I wish we could get right back at it. We’ll have a light week, watch some (tape) of Kingman and get ready to play next week.”

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