Flagstaff Beats Washington For Homecoming, Coconino Falls At Northwest Christian Friday Night

The Flagstaff Eagles led start to finish to get a win against the Washington Rams for Homecoming, while the Coconino Panthers had a back-and-forth affair Friday night with the Northwest Christian Crusaders, falling in a close game. Freshman quarterback Chase Brown continues to add to his impressive first season in high school football as he tossed five touchdown passes to lead the Eagles to a 55-28 win over Washington. Brown has thrown 13 touchdown passes in his first three starts this season. The Eagles recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff, then on fourth down Brown found Holden Sena for the opening touchdown. Washington’s first offensive play was picked off by Ben Walter for the Eagles. Two plays later the Eagles would score again, this time on a two-yard run from Jaden Wetzel to make it 13-0. Flagstaff would create six turnovers, five Ram fumbles, en route to the win. Flagstaff will open up Grand Canyon Region play Friday night, against the Prescott Badgers in the Skydome. The Panthers went to Phoenix for the final time this regular season, as they took on the Crusaders of Northwest Christian. The Panthers held the Crusaders to a three-and-out on the first drive, but Northwest Christian lost their starting quarterback Judah Huisman with a leg injury. In steps backup quarterback Ashton Kamp for the Crusaders. He energized Northwest Christian as both teams traded scores. The Panthers held the Crusaders to a field goal at the buzzer as Coconino led 21-17. The Crusaders held Coconino on the opening drive on the first drive of the half. The Crusaders took the lead and built onto it, leading 31-21 in the fourth quarter. Then the Panthers recovered a fumble and capitalized on the ensuing drive on a touchdown from Quinn Mickelson to make it 31-28. Coconino would hold Northwest Christian on downs, forcing the Crusaders to punt. However, they down it at the three yard line. The Panthers got a first down but stalled, turning the ball over on downs late in the fourth as the Crusaders picked up win 31-28. The Crusaders had 424 yards of total offense, 214 yards on the ground and 218 in the air. The Panthers are 2-3 on the season, losing all three games by a total of ten points. They will try to regroup as they start region play, at home for homecoming, against the Lee Williams Volunteers Friday night. If you missed these two games, you can watch them “on demand” on NFHSNetwork.com.