Ganado keeps its playoff hopes alive with win over MV

WINDOW ROCK

The all-important second seed in the 3A North Region football is still up for grabs.

With the Arizona Interscholastic Association taking the top two teams from each conference for next month’s Class 3A state playoffs the Ganado Hornets kept its postseason hopes alive by beating Monument Valley last Friday night.

The Hornets (6-2) even its conference record to 2-2 after they posted a 15-8 win over Monument Valley (5-3, 1-2).

“It was a hard fought game,” Ganado coach Mike Bitsuie said. “Our team came out and played good defense all evening,”

Going into Friday’s matches, Page (7-2 overall) leads the conference race with a 4-0 record as the Sand Devils host second-place Chinle (4-4, 2-1). Tuba City (5-4, 2-2) and Ganado are both tied for third but the Warriors holds the tiebreaker with the 6-0 victory they posted on Sept. 29. Monument Valley comes in next in fifth place ahead of Window Rock (0-7, 0-6).

In last Friday’s win, Bitsuie said his team caused havoc on what Monument Valley wanted to do offensively as they came away with four interceptions and a fumble recovery.

“(Monument Valley) came out and moved the ball on us but we buckled down in the red zone and held them out of the end zone most of the evening,” the first-year coach said. “Our defense made plays and lead us to victory.”

Bitsuie credited the play of linebackers Cameron Peshtoney, Chancey Chicharello, and Tony Shirley as they led the team with six tackles. Liam King and Rayshawn James added five tackles.

“Our secondary did a tremendous job of not giving up the big plays,” Bitsuie said.

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