MESA — It was a tough night for Walden Grove under the Thursday Night Lights up in the Valley, where the Red Wolves dropped a close one to the Eastmark Firebirds. The Red Wolves had multiple chances in the fourth quarter to come back and take the lead, but their failure to convert on critical plays ultimately resulted in a 16-13 loss.
Walden Grove coach Corey Noble took ownership of the result on the field, saying he didn’t do enough to prepare his team this week.
“I didn’t have us ready tonight,” Noble said. “We’ve gotta do a better job as coaches to get them ready.”
Things initially started out in favor of the Red Wolves, who won the toss and elected to defer.
After exchanging possessions to open the game, Eastmark was able to get on the board first, but it wasn’t easy. Walden Grove’s defense was able to hold the Firebirds to just a field goal, which Isaiah Helmkamp had to boot in from over 45 yards. With 2:29 remaining in the first quarter, Eastmark took a 3-0 lead.
Walden Grove’s following possession was a sloppy one, resulting in a quick three-and-out.
However, defense stepped up on the following drive, as Angel Armenta had a pick-6 to give Walden Grove the lead. The kick was no good, making it 6-3 with 10:54 remaining in the second quarter.
Eastmark’s following possession resulted in a punt, and Walden Grove took advantage of the opportunity at hand. After making their way down field, the Red Wolves put an exclamation point on the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run by Dominic Sanchez. The extra-point attempt was good, making it 13-3 with 2:22 remaining before the half.
Knowing they had to strike fast, Eastmark wasted no time getting to work. After a couple of plays for a few short gains, Dayne Silver was able to connect with Maximo Cano for a huge pass, resulting in a touchdown with 1:44 remaining in the second quarter. The extra-point attempt was blocked by Steven Michael Valdez Jr., making it 13-9 as each team went into the locker room at halftime.
Walden Grove got the ball coming out of the half and was nearly able to reach the red zone but ultimately fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Eastmark’s Carson Chandler at the 25. Off an explosive run from Brent Glover, the Firebirds were able to advance to the 4. After a loss of two, Silver had a quarterback keeper for a s6-yard touchdown to regain the lead midway through the third quarter.
The extra-point attempt was good, making it 16-13 Eastmark with 6:43 remaining in the quarter.
The next two possessions for each team resulted in punts or turnovers on downs.
Early in the fourth quarter, Walden Grove got the ball back and was attempting to make its way down the field when Cano was able to disrupt things with an interception. With 9:08 remaining in the game, Eastmark took over at the 40.
Chopping away at the chains, Eastmark was able to reach the red zone and was set up to score. However, Walden Grove’s Sanchez was able to tip the pass and come down with it at the goal line for an interception, taking it all the way out to the 15 with 5:42 remaining.
“I still don’t even know what happened,” Noble said. “It was a phenomenal play.”
The Red Wolves knew they had to work, as they might not get another chance to get the ball back. Things were going okay, until they got to about midfield. Unfortunately, the Red Wolves were picked off by Kyson Lunt with 2:10 remaining in the game.
Eastmark got the ball back but wasn’t able to do anything with it, punting the ball back to the Red Wolves with little time remaining. Walden Grove made an effort to move the ball down the field, there just wasn’t enough time.
Noble credited Eastmark coach Jason Lyons as well as his players, stating it’s a tough program that gave them a great game.
“They’re a great team,” Noble said. “Coach Lyons had those guys ready. They’re doing an awesome job. [Cano] is a freakin monster.
“Eastmark presents a lot on offense, in terms of formations, motions, shifts, movements, things like that that require a lot of communication, and anytime you have to get eleven teenagers to all be on the same page and communicate. … but we’ve seen it be done and we’ve had it be done in the past. For large swaths of tonight, we did it, we just had X number of plays where we didn’t, and a majority of those cost us like they should’ve.”
He also discussed how strong of a defensive performance the team had tonight, but noted that it just unfortunately wasn’t enough.
“Defense played really, really well, 90 percent of the snaps tonight,” Noble said. “But that’s the hard thing about defense, 90 percent of the snaps aren’t good enough.
“We gave up some big plays in this game by not doing our job…If we want to be the defense we expect to be, 90-percent is not enough. We can’t have blown coverages and missed tackles that lead to big plays.”
Noble also stated that the team was not “offensively sound” on Thursday night, and unlike in game one, they failed to take care of the football.
This week, the Red Wolves have an extra day to rest and prepare for the Tucson Badgers thanks to this game being on a Thursday. Noble says it’s going to be back to some of the basics at practice and that he’s going to make sure they’re prepared come next Friday.
“It comes down to blocking, it comes down to tackling, it comes down to taking care of the football,” Noble said. “Obviously, we didn’t do those things well enough tonight, so we’re gonna start there… If you don’t execute, you lose to good teams.”
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