Arizona prep football: Local regional races still up for grabs

WINDOW ROCK – The regular season for Arizona high school football ends next week.

Two conference races will be up for grabs this weekend with Holbrook hosting Piñon in a key 2A Little Colorado Region matchup.

At the 3A level, Page will entertain Winslow with the winner having the inside track of capturing the 3A North Region title. Both games are scheduled for Friday.

“We have (two) more games to determine if we play more football,” Winslow coach Brandon Guzman said. “The season is almost done with, so we have to be focused and dialed in.

“We got to get after it,” he added.

Two weeks ago, the Bulldogs (7-1) welcomed the return of sophomore quarterback Gino Quinones, who was injured during Week 1 of the regular season.

Last week, Quinones completed 6-of-10 passes for 69 yards in Winslow’s 20-12 win over Kingman as the sophomore QB hit fellow sophomore teammate JoJo Captain for a TD reception.

The Bulldogs got two rushing scores from senior Ty DeSpain as he carried the ball for 84 yards on 17 carries.

Page (5-3) is coming off a 62-16 loss to El Mirage Dysart as the Sand Devils dropped five spots to No. 26 in the latest Arizona Interscholastic Association statewide rankings.

Page coach Bubba Billie told the Navajo Times the Dysart and Winslow games were must-win games for his club to make the 3A playoffs as the top 16 teams make it to state.

“If we’re looking for a playoff berth, I think we have to win out to get close to being No. 15 or 16,” Billie said.

Winslow is still in the hunt for a playoff spot with the Bulldogs moving up one spot to No. 14 in the polls.

Nevertheless, Guzman said they have a big hill to climb to make state as the Bulldogs will close out the regular season with Page and Monument Valley next week Friday.

“I don’t care what their records are, they’re both good football teams,” Guzman said of Page and MV. “They play really well and I’m good friends of Bubba and I’m good friends of (MV coach) Bryan (Begay).”

In 2A, Piñon is the highest ranked team in the area at No. 21 as the Eagles sport an 8-0 record. The 5-3 Holbrook team is six places back at No. 28.

“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Piñon coach Steve Saban said of Friday’s game, which starts at 7 p.m. (MST).

“Holbrook is the former region champ and they went 10-0 last year so we got to go through them,” he said.

Saban said it’s been about 11 years since Piñon has been to the playoffs.

“I remember that team and they had a good group,” Saban said while noting that he coached against that 2012 Piñon team while at nearby Hopi High School.

Saban said he’s been coaching for at least 20 years with stints at St. Johns, Payson, Hopi and Laguna Acoma.

“I like to build programs,” he said. “It’s been fun going to places where it’s kind of low on the football side and build it and make it into something.

“I’ve always enjoyed that part of it, helping kids and giving back,” Saban said. “It’s easy to go to a school when you have all kinds of talent, but it’s satisfying to come to places where supposedly people forget about and don’t give them a chance and coming out of nowhere like this year.”

---