FOOTBALL: Diamondbacks measure up in win over Cimarron

When Brad Talich took over the Desert Oasis football team last summer, he circled Oct. 16 as a key date for his fledgling program. A victory over Cimarron-Memorial, he felt, would be a measuring stick to demonstrate exactly how much improvement his players had made.

The Diamondbacks passed the test Friday, dominating from start to finish to get a 49-7 home victory over Cimarron-Memorial.

Ty'shun McClinton rushed 20 times for 139 yards and three touchdowns for Desert Oasis, but pretty much anyone who carried the ball was effective against the Spartans' outmatched defense.

"When we took this program over, our staff knew we had to get over a key hurdle," Talich said. "That hurdle this year was Cimarron. We worked all spring and all summer for this, and hopefully it will get us going in the right direction."

The Diamondbacks (6-2, 2-1 Northwest League) found their direction early Friday, scoring on a 12-yard keeper by quarterback Brannon Flowers to go ahead 6-0 with 8:40 left in the first quarter.

McClinton took over from there, scoring on a 31-yard run in the first and a 26-yard sprint to cap a 90-yard second-quarter drive.

"He's a special kid," Talich said of McClinton "Of course, he's got a great group out in front of him, and our staff does a great job of getting him the ball."

A Spartans (1-6, 0-2) fumble led to the next Desert Oasis TD, a 28-yard pass from Flowers to Jaden Mitchell. The Diamondbacks, who held the Spartans to just 78 yards of first-half offense, led 28-0 at halftime.

After McClinton pounded out a 4-yard TD early in the third quarter to put his team ahead 35-0, Cimarron quarterback George Tribble was knocked out of the game with an injury. The Diamondbacks would later take out Cimarron reserve quarterback Quintaz Wright, forcing Adrian Camberos to finish the game under center.

Things got ugly with numerous penalties, personal fouls and an ejection on both sides midway through the half, but the Spartans finally got on the board with a 9-yard TD pass from Camberos to Eric Wade to make it 35-7 with 10:06 remaining.

"In a game like that, the kids kind of lost control," Talich said. "In that situation they just lost sight of what was important."

The Diamondbacks answered on their next drive when Branden Peterson scored on a 29-yard run to put it away.

Flowers completed 11 of 15 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown to help Desert Oasis, and Mitchell added 73 yards on two carries.

Tyree Riley rushed 18 times for 49 yards to lead the Spartans.

Liberty 74, Valley 8 — At Liberty,quarterback Kenyon Oblad completed all 10 of his passes, six for touchdowns, as the Patriots routed the Vikings.

Oblad threw for 330 yards and Liberty (6-1, 2-0 Northeast) jumped out to a 54-8 lead in the first quarter. Patriots receiver Darion Acohido led Liberty with 86 yards on three catches, including a 42-yard scoring strike from Oblad on the game's first play from scrimmage.

Valley quarterback Iyen Medlock threw for 72 yards and a touchdown, but also threw two interceptions in the first quarter. Jake Dedeaux and Nick Moniz each picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown.

Marquell James scored on both of his carries, finishing with 57 rushing yards for the Patriots.

Valley (0-7, 0-2) has been outscored 214-26 in its last four games.

Since losing its season-opener to St. Louis (Hawaii), Liberty has won six in a row, all by at least 18 points.

Sunrise Mountain 41, Del Sol 0 — At Sunrise Mountain, Claude Moore rushed for 120 yards and three touchdowns as the Miners (6-2, 3-2 Sunrise) secured the school's first playoff appearance with a win over the Dragons.

Moore had TD runs of 1, 8 and 5 yards.

Stephen Wright completed 10 of 17 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown for Sunrise Mountain. Wright had a 45-yard TD pass to Te'andre Love and also scored on a 19-yard run.

Sunrise Mountain's Nemesis McKenzie carried the ball six times for 48 yards and contributed a 27-yard interception return for a touchdown with 2:00 left to play.

The Miners held Del Sol (1-7, 1-5) to 143 yards of offense.

Quarterback Byron Rawson completed 8 of 20 passes for 70 yards and was intercepted twice, and running back Taariq Flowers carried the ball 20 times for 44 yards for the Dragons.

Arbor View 45, Bonanza 0 — At Arbor View, Hayden Bollinger threw for three touchdowns on just six attempts, and also ran for a score as the Aggies (6-1, 2-0) shut out the Bengals (2-6, 0-3).

No. 4 Arbor View dominated from the start, scoring three times in the first quarter and holding Bonanza to 72 yards of offense for the game.

Deago Stubbs rushed for 77 yards, scoring a touchdown via the rush and the pass on consecutive plays from scrimmage in the first quarter.

Bollinger then drove the Aggies down to red zone, but fumbled at the end of an 11-yard run inside the Bonanza 5 that was recovered by the Bengals. However, Bollinger made sure to finish the following drive, scoring from 1 yard to give the Aggies a 21-0 lead.

Noah Noce caught a 61-yard touchdown pass from Bollinger for the Aggies on their following drive, followed by a 31-scoring strike from Bollinger to Alex Sims.

Bonanza (2-6, 0-3) drove into Arbor View territory in the third quarter and threatened to end the shutout, but an interception followed by a 69-yard run by fullback Alex Wagner, reversed field position. DeKarri Gunn finished the drive, scoring on a 1-yard run.

James Drye closed the scoring with a 48-yard field goal for Arbor View.

DeShawn Williams led the way offensively for the Bengals, rushing for 38 yards.

Palo Verde 47, Durango 0 — At Durango, the Panthers (3-4, 2-0 Southwest) scored six rushing touchdowns on eight possessions to defeat the Trailblazers (0-8, 0-3).

Thaddeus Wiley rushed for 93 yards on nine carries and supplied scoring runs of 1 and 25 yards.

Christian Bell had 115 yards on rushes, including a 3-yard TD run for Palo Verde.

The Panthers held Durango to 68 yards passing and 48 yards rushing, and Dylan Turner had a 10-yard fumble recovery for a score for Palo Verde.

Aaron Chisolm had 46 yards rushing including a 7-yard TD run for the Panthers, who got a 1-yard rushing TD from Max Miller-Hooks and a 4-yard TD scamper from Earnest Williams.

Kavika Covington had 10 tackles, and Chauntez Thomas had two sacks for the Panthers. Tyler Thornton added an interception for Palo Verde.

Durango quarterback Jonathan Scofield had 112 yards of total offense and 70 yards on kickoff returns. Brandon Chambers had a sack for the Trailblazers.

Moapa Valley 63, Boulder City 14 — At Boulder City, Sterling Simmons had seven carries for 104 yards and three touchdowns, and the Pirates stormed out to a 43-0 halftime lead before downing the Eagles.

Simmons had scoring runs of 3, 18 and 52 for Moapa Valley (7-1, 5-0 I-A Sunrise).

Nate Cox was 10 of 10 passing for 168 yards and two TDs, and R.J. Hubert had a rushing and receiving score for the Pirates. Hubert had 86 receiving yards and 37 rushing yards.

Trystin Deal rushed for 70 yards and a score on six carries for Moapa Valley, which also got rushing scores from Jacob Leavitt and Wesley Wright.

Michael Martinelli threw both of his touchdown passes to Zach Murphy, who finished with three receptions and 84 yards for Boulder City (1-7, 0-5).

Faith Lutheran 46, Pahrump Valley 3 — At Pahrump, Christian Marshall rushed for 99 yards and three touchdowns on just five carries as the Crusaders secured the Sunset League title with a win over the Trojans (3-5, 2-4 Sunset).

Marshall had touchdown runs of 53 and 21 yards in the first quarter as Faith Lutheran took an early 15-3 lead.

Marshall added a 10-yard scoring run in the second quarter, and the Crusaders led 39-3 at the half.

Saundre Spiller added 50 yards and two touchdowns on four carries for Faith Lutheran (7-1, 6-0). Spiller had scoring runs of 13 and 26 yards.

Chaparral 42, Virgin Valley 24 — At Chaparral, the Cowboys (7-1, 5-0 Sunrise) intercepted five passes, returning two for touchdowns, en route to the win over the Bulldogs (3-5, 1-4).

Casey Acosta returned his interception 97 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the first half to give the Cowboys a 21-3 halftime lead.

Richard Nelson's 20-yard interception return for a touchdown with 9:14 to play pushed the lead to 42-10.

Virgin Valley led 3-0 after Cesar Zarate's 30-yard field goal, but the Cowboys answered five plays later with a 39-yard touchdown run by Nelson.

Chaparral stuffed a short run up the middle on fourth-and-inches to force a turnover on downs with 2:33 remaining in the first half. That set up a 38-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Solis to Tyler Ford to extend the lead to 14-3.

Richie Hernandez scored on a 1-yard TD plunge, and Kentrell Petite scored on a 60-yard catch and run from Solis.

Solis completed 13 of 21 passes for 190 yards, and Ptite had five catches for 91 yards for Chaparral.

Kai Mitchell led Virgin Valley with 13 carries for 131 and two touchdowns.

Cheyenne 58, Western 0 — At Cheyenne, the Desert Shields jumped out to a 26-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back en route to the win over the Warriors.

The Desert Shields opened the scoring as Elagio Schuler returned an interception 36 yards on Western's opening drive.

Cheyenne (6-2, 5-1 Sunset) then recovered the short kickoff and 14 seconds later, George Carmona took the inside pitch from Anthony McConnico 26 yards for a 14-0 lead.

After the teams exchanged punts, William Federson made a one-handed interception over the middle and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown. Deriontae Green added a 67-yard scoring pass from McConnico for the 26-0 lead.

Cheyenne outgained Western 322 to 101 and forced four turnovers.

McConnico was 6-for-7 passing for 143 yards and three touchdowns. He completed passes to six receivers. David Walker led the way on the ground for Cheyenne with 71 yards on nine carries, including a 42-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Zavieh Harrell had TD runs of 4 yards and 1 yard, David Ramirez rushed for 53 yards on four carries including a 36-yard scoring run for the Desert Shields..

Anthony Shelby caught four passes for 44 yards for Western (0-7, 0-6).

The Meadows 28, Agassi Prep 20 — At The Meadows, the Mustangs stopped the Stars on fourth-and-1 late in the fourth quarter to ice the victory over the Stars.

Agassi Prep attempted a quarterback draw on the play, and The Meadows stopped it short of the first down.

The Mustangs (4-4, 3-3 Division III Southern) were able to rush for 27 yards and two first downs to run out the clock.

Agassi Prep (5-2, 5-2) proved to be its own worst enemy as the Stars outgained the Mustangs 326 yards to 193 but, were unable to overcome 12 penalties, two turnovers and two crucial special teams mistakes.

The Meadows quarterback Gabe Adamson connected with wide receiver Ethan Fridman on a 40-yard touchdown pass midway through the first quarter to give the Mustangs a 7-0 lead.

The Stars then committed the first of their special teams mistakes as they snapped the ball over the punter's head, giving the Mustangs the ball on the Stars 6-yard line. Running back Alex Martinez scored two plays later to give the Mustangs a 14-0 lead.

The Meadows stopped the Stars on their first possession of the second half and then returned a blocked a punt for a touchdown to expand their lead to 21-0.

Agassi Prep quarterback Kameron Burrell completed a 66-yard touchdown pass to Alex Placido, and running back Kezaun Cooper ran for 61-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 21-14 with 7:42 to go in the third quarter.

Stephan LauShaul, who finished with 122 yards on 31 carries, scored on a 4-yard run with 11:24 to play to cut the lead to 21-20.. At the start of the fourth quarter Laushaul, who finished with 122 yards rushing, scored on a 4 yard run to make the score 21-20.

But Adamson hit Fridman with a 73-yard scoring pass on third-and-13 with 8:58 to go to push the lead to 28-20.

Mountain View 42, Calvary Chapel 0 — At Calvary Chapel, Bernard Williams scored four touchdowns, including three on the ground, in a game the Lions forfeited at halftime.

Williams finished with 49 yards rushing and 26 yards receiving for Mountain View (2-6, 2-4 Division III Southern).

Tyrell Brooks, who was 7 of 11 passing for 74 yards and a score, added 121 yards rushing and two touchdowns for the Saints.

Christian O'Kelley completed 3 of 8 passes for 41 yards, and D.J. Golden caught three passes for 77 yards for Calvary Chapel (0-8, 0-7).

Lincoln County 43, Needles 35 — At Needles, McClain O'Connor ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more as the Lynx defeated the Mustangs to move into a first-place tie in the Division III Southern League.

O'Connor completed 13 of 16 passes for 283 yards for Lincoln County, which now is 7-1, 5-1 in the league. Landon Smith added 180 receiving yards for the Lynx.

Derek Wagstaff and Trenton Poe-Evans each scored two touchdowns for the Mustangs (6-1, 5-1).