Ganado climbs mountain of penalties, gets it done

BURNSIDE, Ariz.

It wasn’t the prettiest of wins but the Ganado Hornets got it done.

In a 3A North gridiron opener the Hornets outlasted the Chinle Wildcats 18-13 in a contest that was plagued by a mountain of penalties.

Both teams combined for over 35 infractions, which resulted in 315 yards of penalties. The Hornets were flagged 21 times for 180 yards.

“It was tough but we overcame that,” Ganado coach Adriel Shirley said.

The first-year coach said it was frustrating to see a couple of their drives fizzle out. In two of those drives, the Hornets had a pair of scores called back.

The first one happened midway through the third after Ganado got a key interception from senior Keanu Dooline deep in Chinle’s territory.

Hornet junior Tony Shirley ran the ball for a 27-yard score but a holding penalty at the line of scrimmage nullified that TD.

Two plays later, Ganado quarterback Elton Kirk was sacked as the Wildcats regained possession of the ball.

That break allowed the Wildcats to cut Ganado’s lead down to 12-6 as they marched 53 yards for a score with senior quarterback Darren Woody hooking up with junior Cvto Lowe for a 19-yard TD pass.

The Hornets responded with a long scoring drive aided by a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty from Chinle after Kirk ran the ball for 22 yards on a quarterback keeper.

That penalty put the Hornets at Chinle’s 35-yard line and two plays later Kirk found Shirley for a 27-yard gain.

Shirley hit the pay dirt on the very next play but his score was called back with another holding penalty. That infraction moved the ball back to Chinle’s 18-yard line.

Nonetheless, the Hornets overcame that with Kirk hitting Shirley for an 18-yard TD pass. After the failed two-point conversion, Ganado led 18-6 with 9:41 left in the contest.

It didn’t take long for Chinle to answer back as there were three penalties by Ganado for 25 yards that gave the Wildcats good field position on the kickoff return.

The most costly was after Woody returned the ball for 12 yards as Ganado was flagged for a facemask penalty that set up Chinle at the Hornets’ 33-yard line.

The Wildcats ran six running plays with Woody running in the final 10 yards for a score. The successful PAT by Woody cut Ganado’s lead down to 18-13 with 7:27 remaining.

After forcing Ganado to punt at the 4:44 mark, the Wildcats had a grand opportunity to take over the lead while inside the Hornets’ territory.

A pair of penalties, however, set them back 15 yards and with 3:51 they fumbled the ball.

Ganado ran three plays for Shirley to reach the red zone for the fourth time but they gave the ball back when Kirk was intercepted with 1:27 left in the contest.

Things took on another twist as Chinle was intercepted with just over a minute left as Ganado ran out the clock.

“My hat’s off to Chinle,” Adriel Shirley said. “They challenged us. They’re a good team, they gave us some problems so we had to adjust.”

After a slow start, Chinle coach Alan Barwick said his team settled in as they had a nice stretch in the second half to cut Ganado’s lead down to five points.

Nevertheless, he felt that this game got away from them.

“We had a chance to pull it off but we just didn’t execute,” he said. “Our penalties hurt us and it’s something that we can control. Hats off to Ganado but I do think we beat ourselves quite a bit tonight.”

As for the last two series, Barwick said they were trying to move the ball with whatever was open.

“We were taking what the defense was giving us,” he said. “Again it was execution. We had a chance to do it but we had a fumble and an interception.”

With the momentum sliding back and forth, Tony Shirley said they were real lucky to outlast Chinle.

“We made a lot of stupid mistakes but after they picked us off our defense had to step up,” the Ganado running back said. “We knew we had to do something to get back the momentum.”

Like his coach, Tony said their penalties nearly cost them the game. Nonetheless, he said it’s something they can correct.

“We just have to be more prepared,” he said. “We have to watch what we do when we’re blocking.”

Despite being penalized, Adriel Shirley felt that his kids stayed composed, especially late in the game.

“They kept their heads in the game,” he said. “We didn’t panic and it showed on the scoreboard.”

Both teams will be in action on Friday with Chinle traveling to Monument Valley while Ganado will be at Tuba City.

The Ganado coach said they are going address the penalty issues they had last Friday night at practice this week in preparation for the Warriors.

 

“We really struggled on the line tonight,” he said. “We have to make some adjustments and most of it is miscommunication. We’re going to be working on that.”

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