Crownpoint holds off Sanders Valley in season opener

CROWNPOINT – The Chris Murphy-era got off to a rocky start.

The first year Crownpoint coach saw a dip in the number of players, but he’s pleased with where the program is headed as the Eagles opened up the season with a 14-6 win over visiting Valley Pirates last Thursday.

“It’s been kind of like a rollercoaster ride,” Murphy said. “We had some kids that transferred out, and some who left the team for other reasons, so it was kind of struggle to find guys to come out.”

As of last week, the Eagles have enlisted 27 players in their program. Of those numbers, five are seniors. The rest of the team is comprised of two juniors, seven sophomores and 13 freshmen.

“We only have a few seniors out, so we have a young team,” Murphy said. “We’re freshmen and sophomore heavy and coming into this game we were wondering how the young guys were going to hold up.”

The Crownpoint coach said they showed signs of being inexperienced, but it’s something they can work at.

“We’re going to fix it, so it looks promising,” Murphy said. “You know, the guys are young, but they held their own.”

The Eagles were the first to score with under two minutes in the opening half with senior quarterback Jonathan Antonio running in the final one-yard to complete a 5-play, 63-yard drive.

In that scoring drive, Antonio hit sophomore McKenzie Tsosie with a 40-yard toss to set the Eagles up at Valley’s nine-yard line.

Antonio was involved in Crownpoint’s second TD when he delivered a 33-yard TD pass to junior wideout LaVontae Robinson in the early going of the third period for a 14-0 advantage.

Antonio finished the night by completing 13 of 21 passes for 176 yards with Robinson being his favorite target. The junior playmaker caught five receptions for 99 yards.

“I thought our defense played well, but we had to make adjustments to our deep coverage,” said Valley first-year coach Doug South whose team dropped its 17th consecutive game. “We gave up a few passes that were deep. We’ll look at film and make some changes and go from there.”

The Pirates got one of those scores back at the 10:31 mark of the fourth quarter when senior quarterback Hayden Etsitty found junior wideout Mason Littleman for a 34-yard TD reception.

“We had two other ones that were open, but our problem was our receivers were going in instead of staying on the outside,” South said.

With the Eagles unable to sustain a drive on its next possession, the Pirates threatened to score again. They went 22 yards and reached Crownpoint’s 6-yard line.

Valley, however, couldn’t punch the ball into the end zone as Crownpoint took over at the 5:19 mark.

“That’s just football,” South said. “Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. Today it just went their way and not ours.”

Behind the legs of junior Calian Tenequer-Joe and McKenzie Tsosie the Eagles were able to move the ball near midfield to close out the eight-point win.

“I’m really proud of Calian and McKenzie,” the Crownpoint coach said. “They got us a couple of key first downs, even our receivers were getting out there and catching those balls.

“It was really good to see our other guys step up,” Murphy added.

Those two players took the load off primary ball carrier Tydon Tsosie, who rushed for 32 yards on 16 carries.

“He’s one of the guys we’re going to rely heavy on,” Murphy said of the senior running back. “But that is only going to work if we do our side with the blocking and the schemes we run. That needs to improve.”

As for the defensive stops, the Crownpoint coach was pleased with how his club responded, especially in Valley’s last possession.

“We had some of the younger guys stepping up and playing hard,” he said. ”I think defensively, these kids just have the heart. The biggest thing I see out there is these kids want to go out there and play.

“They’re not timid,” he added. “We don’t have anyone thinking twice about what they’re doing.”

Despite coming out on top, Murphy said they have some things to clean up as the Eagles will travel to Shiprock on Friday for their next contest.

“We’re going to make mistakes, but that’s just the inexperience that we have,” Murphy said. “We’re going to teach the kids how to handle it and get it done. Those are the things that we’re looking at, but once we get them taken care of, we’re going to be OK.

“It’ll be a bright spot for us, so it’s looking promising,” he added.

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